A 


^ 


MAN 


i:?  THE 


PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE: 


A    POPULAR   ACCOUNT   OF   THE 


Results  of  Recent  Scientific  Research 


REGARDING     THE 


ORIGIN,  POSITION  AND  PROSPECTS   OF   MANKIND. 


FROM    THE   GERMAN    OF 

Dr.   LUDWIG    BUCHNER, 

AUTHOR  OF   "FORCE  AND   MATTER,"    "ESSAYS  ON  NATURE  AND  SCIENCE, 
"PHYSIOLOGICAL  PICTURES,"    "SIX    LECTURES  ON    DARWIN,"   ETC. 


In  the  past,  man  appeared  to  be  a  creature  foreign  to  the  earth,  and  placed 
upon  it  as  a  transitory  inhabitant  by  some  incomprehensible  power.  The 
more  perfect  insight  of  the  present  day  sees  man  as  a  being  whose  develop- 
ment has  taken  place  in  accordance  with  the  same  laws  that  have  governed 
the  development  of  the  earth  and  its  entire  organization  —  a  being  not  put 
upon  the  earth  accidentally  bv  an  arbitrary  act,  but  produced  in  harmony 
with  the  earth's  nature,  arid  belonging  to  it  as  do  the  flowtrs  and  fruits  to 
the  tree  which  bears  them. — PROF.  Perty. 


New  York  : 

.»ETER   ECKLER,   PUBLISHER, 

35  Fulton  Strret. 


Copyrighted,  1894,  by  Peter  Eckler. 


PUBLISHER'S  PREFACE. 


AMONG  the  popular  scientific  writers  of  the  present  day 
in  Germany,  Dr.  Biichner  stands  pre-eminently  in  the 
foremost  rank,  and  the  publisher  of  the  present  translation  of 
his  able  work,  which  defines  the  Position  of  Man  in  Nature, 
takes  great  pleasure  in  placing  it  before  the  American  public, 
at  a  price  so  reasonable  that  it  brings  it  within  the  reach  of  all 
classes. 

A  number  of  engravings,  which  have  not  appeared  in  former 
editions  of  this  work,  have  now  been  added,  to  assist  in  illus- 
trating the  text. 

Theologians,  and  naturalists  whose  scientific  views  are  in 
accord  with  the  so-called  sacred  revelations,  have  long  con- 
tended for  the  specific  unity  of  the  human  race, — a  race  des- 
tined, as  they  believe,  to  an  eternal  existence  after  this  life, — 
whilst  all  other  sentient  beings  are  doomed  by  them  to  anni- 
hilation and  oblivion.  But  Dr.  Biichner  teaches  us  a  more 
equitable  and  righteous  doctrine.  He  grandly  broadens  and 
enlarges  this  unjust  and  restricted  view,  and  ably  contends, 
not  only  for  the  unity  of  the  human  race,  but  also  for  the  unity 
of  all  races  that  exist, — indeed,  we  may  say,  for  the  unity  of  the 
universe.  He  sees  that  man  has  risen  from  the  lowest  position 
to  his  present  exalted  state,  by  the  slow  and  gradual  process 
of  evolution  —  that  "in  the  animal  as  in  man,  the  eye  serves  for 
vision,  the  ear  for  hearing,  the  tongue  for  tasting,  the  stomach 
for  digestion,  and  the  liver  for  the  secretion  of  bile ;  the  feet 
serve  for  locomotion,  the  lungs  for  breathing,  the  kidneys  for 
the  separation  of  water,  etc.     By  means  of  chloroform  the  ani- 


IV  PUBLISHER  S    PREFACE. 

mal  is  stupefied  just  like  the  man  —  they  Hve,  sicken  and  die 
by  the  same  processes  and  causes. 

The  same  thought  "concerning  the  estate  of  the  sons  of 
men"  is  even  more  tersely  expressed  by  the  author  oi  Ecclesi- 
astes :  or,  the  Preacher,  chap,  iii,  verses  19  and  20  : 

' '  For  that  which  befalleth  the  sons  of  men  befalleth  beasts  ; 
even  one  thing  befalleth  them  :  as  the  one  dieth,  so  dieth  the 
the  other ;  yea,  they  have  all  one  breath  ;  so  that  a  man  hath 
no  pre-eminence  above   a  beast :    for   all  is    vanity. 

' '  All  go  unto  one  place ;  all  are  of  the  dust,  and  all  turn  to 
dust  again." 

Whilst  many  animals  excel  man  in  strength,  courage,  swiftness 
and  endurance,  he  has  nevertheless  attained  an  ascendency  over 
them  by  his  superior  reasoning  powers,  which  result  from  the 
exercise  of  his  larger  and  more  perfectly  developed  brain.  But 
even  if  he  possesses  the  power  to  govern,  it  gives  him  no  right 
to  abuse  that  power.  Justice  and  mercy  should  prompt  him  to 
act  as  the  friend,  not  the  persecutor  of  the  inferior  races.  And 
above  all,  he  should  cease  to  ruthlessly  destroy,  for  so-called 
sport  and  pastime,  the  lives  of  innocent  animals  —  lives  which 
are  their  only  possession  —  and  which  it  is  impossible  for  him 
to  again  restore. 

We  are  told  in  Clarke's  Travels,  vol.  IV.,  page  544,  that  a 
traveller,  alighting  from  his  horse,  killed  a  serpent  which 
was  crossing  the  way.  Carrying  it  to  the  ambassador,  who 
was  seated  in  his  Arabah,  he  received  a  mild  but  pointed  re- 
proof against  the  wantonness  of  depriving  an  animal  unnecessa- 
rily of  life.  "Bey  Zedeh,"  said  he,  "had  that  poor  serpent 
done  any  thing  to  injure  you?  Are  you  the  hapj)icr  because 
you  have  deprived  it  of  life  ?  Do  not  carry  with  you  a  proof 
of  your  cruelty  ;  it  may  be  unlucky  :  the  same  Power  who 
made  you  created  also  the  serpent ;  and  surely  there  was  room 
enough  in  this  wilderness  for  both  of  you." 

PETER  ECKLER. 


PREFACE. 


THE  following  book  has  resulted  from  a  series  of  public 
discourses  by  the  author  upon  the  great  scientific  dis- 
coveries of  recent  times  with  regard  to  the  Antiquity  and 
Origin  of  the  Hiima?i  race,  and  the  Position  of  Man  in 
Nature. 

The  great  and  almost  unexampled  interest  in  the  subject, 
and  its  importance  in  the  development  and  further  evolution 
of  our  general  conception  of  the  Universe  and  of  life,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  philosophical  realism,  (an  importance  which 
is  still  far  from  being  sufficiently  acknowledged),  will  justify 
the  author  in  abstaining  from  any  prefatory  explanation  of 
his  motives  in  deciding  to  communicate  in  the  present  com- 
pilation, the  essential  parts  of  these  discourses  to  a  more 
distant  or  larger  public,  in  a  form  suited  for  general  compre- 
hension. 

In  order  to  avoid  confusion  by  the  particularly  copious 
abundance  of  materials  at  hand,  the  author  has  arranged  the 
actual,  or  more  exact  proof  of  what  is  given  in  the  Text, 
(consisting  of  quotations,  scientific  details,  and  further  partic- 
ulars or  remarks, )  in  a  separate  Appendix,  brought  into  con- 
nection with  the  Text  by  continuous  numbers,  and  also  in  a 
series  of  foot  notes.  He  hopes  that  this  method  will  augment 
the  scientific  value  of  the  book  without  injuring  its  usefulness 
with  the  general  public,  to  whose  wants  he  has  paid  par- 
ticular attention  in  the  text  itself 

(5) 


VI  PREFACE. 

The  extraordinary  favor  which  the  public  has  hitherto  man- 
ifested towards  all  the  literary  productions  of  the  author  with- 
out exception,  and  which  has  been  his  principal  incitement  to 
proceed  in  the  same  course  will,  he  hopes,  not  be  wanting  to 
this  new  book,  the  principal  tendency  of  which  is  towards 
culture  and  intellectual  progress.  The  author  believes  that  he 
is  the  more  justified  in  this  expectation,  since  the  book  con- 
tains in  its  second  section  a  popular  exposition  of  one  of  the 
most  prominent  questions  of  the  day  —  a  question  which,  in 
the  last  few  years,  has  excited  the  minds  of  men  in  a  most 
remarkable  manner.  This  question,  which  has  been  so  often 
misunderstood,  and  answered  in  the  most  varied  forms, 
relates  to  the  Ape-genealogy  of  man  as  it  has  been  called. 
If  the  author  should  succeed  by  means  of  credible  and  scien- 
tific evidence  in  diffusing  correct  views,  free  from  prejudice 
and  ignorance,  and  resting  upon  the  truths  of  nature  in 
regard  to  this  new  doctrine  which  has  called  forth  so  much 
opposition,  this  result  alone  will  appear  to  him  of  sufficient 
importance  to  compensate  for  the  trouble  which  he  has  be- 
stowed upon  the  subject. 

No  doubt  in  this,  as  in  former  cases,  there  will  be  no  lack 
of  those  opponents  and  calumniators  who  seek  to  displace 
light  by  darkness,  truth  by  falsehood,  and  facts  by  phrases. 
The  author,  who  has  neither  time,  leisure  nor  inclination  for 
futile  polemics,  thinks  that  he  cannot  meet  such  opponents 
better  than  by  closing  his  preface  with  the  following  passages 
from  an  English  writer,  who  has  so  brilliantly  and  resolutely 
defended  the  author's  standpoint  against  his  own  assailants 
and  censurers,  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  add  a  single  word  to 
what  he  has  said. 

"  There  is  nothing  more  frequent,"  says  David  Page,  {Man, 
&c.,  Edingburgh,  1S67),  "than  denunciations  from  the  pulpit 
and  platform  against  the  tendencies  of  modern  science,  by 
men  who  are  not  only  ignorant  of  the  rudiments  of  science, 


PREFACE.  VII 

but  who  have  bound  themselves  by  creeds  and  formulas  before 
their  minds  were  matured  enough  or  their  knowledge  sufficient 
to  discriminate  between  the  essentials  and  non-essentials  of 
these  restrictions.  And  here  it  may  be  remarked,  once  for  all, 
that  no  man  who  has  subscribed  to  creeds  and  formulas,  either 
in  theology  or  philosophy,  can  be  an  unbiased  investigator  of 
the  truth,  or  an  unprejudiced  judge  of  the  opinions  of  others. 
His  sworn  preconceptions  warp  his  discernment,  and  ad- 
herence to  his  sect  or  party  engenders  intolerance  to  the  honest 
convictions  of  other  enquirers. 

"  Beliefs  we  may  and  must  have,  but  a  belief  to  be  changed 
with  new  and  advancing  knowledge  impedes  no  progress, 
while  a  creed  subscribed  to  as  ultimate  truth  and  sworn  to  be 
defended,  not  only  puts  a  bar  to  further  research,  but  as  a  con- 
sequence, throws  the  odium  of  distrust  on  all  that  may  seem  to 
oppose  it.  Even  when  such  odium  cannot  deter,  it  annoys 
and  irritates  ;  hence  the  frequent  unwillingness  of  men  of 
science  to  come  prominently  forward  with  the  avowal  of  their 
beliefs. 

"  It  is  time  this  delicacy  were  thrown  aside,  and  such  theo- 
logians plainly  told  that  the  skepticism  and  infidelity  —  if 
skepticism  and  infidelity  there  be  —  lies  all  on  their  own  side. 
There  is  no  skepticism  so  offensive  as  that  which  doubts  the 
facts  of  honest  and  careful  observation, — no  infidelity  so  gross 
as  that  which  disbelieves  the  deductions  of  competent  and 
unbiased  judgments." 

These  golden  words  deserve  to  be  engraved  on  metal 
and  displayed  in  all  Churches,  Lecture-halls  and  Editorial 
rooms. 


Postscript  to  the  English  Edition. 


ON  the  appearance  of  this  English  edition  of  his  book  on 
the  Position  of  Man  in  Nature,  the  author  thinks  it 
necessary  to  express  to  the  English  Public  his  regret,  that  he 
was  unable,  in  the  preparation  of  its  second  section,  to  make 
use  of  the  admirable  arguments  upon  this  subject,  which  have 
recently  been  published  in  England  by  the  distinguished  nat- 
uralist Darwin,  in  his  book  upon  the  Descent  of  Ma7i.  This 
was  impossible,  as  the  printing  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
translation  was  already  completed  when  the  work  just  men- 
tioned made  its  appearance.  The  author's  regret  at  this  cir- 
cumstance was  however  abundantly  compensated  by  the  sat- 
isfaction which  he  could  not  but  feel  when,  on  reading  Darwin's 
work,  he  remarked  the  great  and  remarkable  agreement 
between  his  views  and  those  of  the  celebrated  English 
naturalist,  although  he  had  been  unable  to  arrive  at  any 
definite  opinion  upon  the  subject  in  question  from  Darwin's 
previous  writings.  Quite  independently  of  any  personal  feel- 
ing, this  circumstance  may  serve  as  a  proof  how  completely  a 
correct  interpretation  of  facts,  and  consistent  and  unprejudiced 
thought  in  scientific  matters,  but  especially  in  Natural  History, 
must  lead  to  the  same  clear  and  simple  results,  no  matter  in 
what  brain  the  necessary  process  of  thought  is  carried  on,  or 
whether  it  is  in  England  or  in  Germany,  or  in  any  other  part 
of  the  civilized  world. 

Dr.  L.   BiJCHNER. 
Darmstadt,  February,  i8j2. 

(8) 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Process  of  human  intellectual  development,  page  15.  The  question 
of  the  position  of  man  in  nature  —  the  question  of  questions  for  man- 
kind, p.  17.  Origin  and  genealogy  of  the  human  race,  p.  18.  Com- 
parison with  the  discovery  of  Copernicus,  p.  19.  Hackel's  geocentric 
and  anthropocentric  errors,  p.  19.  Unfounded  dread  of  the  new  dis- 
coveries, p.  20.  Causes  of  former  errors  with  regard  to  the  position 
of  man  in  nature,  p.  21.  Antiquity  of  the  human  race,  p.  23.  Crea- 
tion of  man  6<xx3  years  ago,  p.  23. 

OUR    ORIGIN. 

Cave  of  Aurignac,  page  25.  J.  Car\'er  on  the  funeral  ceremonies  of 
a  North  American  Indian  Tribe,  p.  30.  Antediluvian,  Alluvium,  and 
Diluvium,  p.  277.  Cave-discoveries,  p.  31.  Old  opinion  as  to  the 
early  state  of  man,  p.  32.  Fossil  bones  of  animals  regarded  as  those 
of  man,  p.  278.  Cuvier  on  antediluvian  man,  p.  33.  Fossils,  p.  34. 
Boucher  de  Perthes  and  the  discovery  of  flint  axes  in  the  Somme  Val- 
ley, p.  35.  Working  in  flint,  p.  38.  Flint  implements  the  first  human 
manufacture,  p.  39.  Flint  axes  beyond  the  Somme  Valley,  p.  41  J. 
P'rere,  p.  41.  Lower  jaw  of  Moulin-Quignon,  p.  43.  Other  fossil  re- 
mains of  man,  pp.  44,  46,  and  279.  Traces  of  human  action  on  bones 
of  extinct  animals,  p.  47.  Pictures  of  extinct  animals,  pp.  48,  49, 
50.  Similar  discoveries  in  the  Tertiaries,  p.  52.  Human  remains  in 
Alluvium,  pp.  54,  279.  Pile  buildings,  p.  280.  Danish  Peat-Mosses, 
p.  280.  Mound  of  the  Ohio,  p.  56.  Kitchen-middens  or  shell-mounds, 
PP-  56,  58.  Giant's  graves  and  dolmens,  pp.  59,  281.  Antiquity  of 
man  on  the  earth,  p.  60.  Formation  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  in  the 
diluvial  period,  p.  61.  Glacial  period  and  antiquity  of  the  Somme 
X'alley  deposits,  p.  282.  (Opinions  on  Tertiary  man,  p.  63.  Antiquity 
of  history.  Traditions,  p.  64.  Egypt,  pp.  66,  283.  Ancient  battles  with 
animals,  p.  66.     Condition  of  existing  savages,  pp.  68,  69.     Primeval 


lO  CONTENTS. 

man,  p.  69.  Physical  condition  of  primeval  man,  p.  72.  Influence  of 
civilization,  p.  286.  Intellectual  condition  of  primeval  man  and  the 
most  ancient  human  skull,  p.  73.  Discoveries  of  Schmerling  and 
Spring  in  the  Belgian  caves,  p.  288.  Borreby  skull,  p.  74.  Skull  from 
Caithness,  p.  75.  Cheltenham  skull,  p.  75.  Neanderthal  skull,  pp. 
75.  77-  Human  skulls  like  the  Neanderthal  skull,  pp.  77,  78.  Skull 
from  Algodon  Bay,  p.  79.  Progress  of  primeval  man  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  stone-implements,  p.  80.  Stone  ages,  pp.  81,  85.  Bronze  and 
iron  ages,  p.  81.  Copper  age,  pp.  82,  83.  Use  of  stone  weapons  in 
historical  times,  p.  83.  Earliest  Stone  age,  p.  84.  Middle  Stone  age 
and  Reindeer  period,  p.  86.  Caves  and  troglodytes  and  cannibalism 
in  South  Africa,  p.  2S9.  Human  bones  and  skulls  of  the  Reindeer 
period,  p.  88.  Reindeer  stations  in  Belgium  and  Wiirttemberg,  p.  290. 
Latest  stone  or  neolithic  age,  p.  88.  Celts,  pp.  88,  89.  Pottery,  p.  89. 
Slow  progress  of  primeval  man,  p.  90.  Stability  the  fundamental 
character  of  the  savage  state,  p.  90.  External  and  internal  impulses 
to  progress,  p.  91.  Immigration  of  foreign  races,  pp.  92,  291.  Tra- 
ditions on  the  rude  primitive  state  of  man,  p.  93.  Ideas  of  Classical 
Antiquity  on  this  subject,  p.  93.  Later  or  Christian  notion  of  an 
original  state  of  perfection,  p.  p.  94.  Sir  John  Lubbock  and  J.  P.  Lesley 
on  theology  and  science,  p.  292.  All  civilization  due  to  gradual  devel- 
opment, p.  97. 

WHAT   ARE   WE? 

Zoological  position  of  man,  pp.  loi,  294.  Order  of  Primates,  pp. 
103,  294.  Its  divisions  according  to  Huxley,  p.  104.  Its  division  and 
genealogical  connection  according  to  Hackel,  p.  106.  Animal  gene- 
alogical tree  of  man  according  to  Hackel,  p.  106.  Anthropoid  Apes, 
p.  107.  Resemblances  to  man  in  the  lower  Apes,  p.  108.  Gorilla, 
Chimpanzee,  Orang-Utan  and  Gibbon,  pp.  109,  295,  299.  G.  Pouchet 
on  the  zoological  position  of  man,  p.  no.  The  foot  as  a  prehensile 
organ,  p.  in.  Anatomical  agreement  of  man  and  animals,  p.  112. 
Relative  differences  in  the  structure  of  man  and  animals,  p.  300. 
Their  physiological  agreement,  pp.  116,  301.  The  brain  in  man  and 
animals,  pp.  117,  301,  302.  Developmental  history,  p.  119.  Modes  of 
reproduction,  pp.  121,  304.  The  ovum,  pp.  121,  123.  Evolution  and 
Epigenesis,  p.  125.     Similarity  of  the  embryos  of  all  animals,  p.  124. 


CONTENTS.  H 

The  ovum  in  man,  p.  126.  Primitive  groove  and  dorsal  chord,  p.  129. 
Resemblance  of  the  human  embryo  to  those  of  animals,  p.  130.  Tail 
of  man,  tailed  men,  p.  132.  Human  branchial  arclies,  rudimentary  or 
aborted  organs,  p.  134.  The  human  intermaxillary  bone,  p.  133,  305. 
Rudimentary  organs  as  supports  of  the  monistic  conception  of  the 
universe,  p.  134.  Triple  developmental  series,  p.  134.  Connection  of 
developmental  history  with  the  question  of  the  origin  of  man,  p.  135. 
Importance  of  this  question,  p.  136.  Priority  of  the  hypothesis  of  the 
animal  origin  of  man,  p.  137.  Huxley,  Hackel,  Schaaffhausen  and 
Vogt,  p.  137.  Vogt  on  microcephali,  p.  138.  Schaaffhausen  on  the 
animal  origin  of  man  and  the  theory  of  evolution,  p.  139,  305.  Prior- 
ity of  Dr.  Reichenbach  of  Altona,  pp.  140,  141.  Lamarck,  Oken  and 
Darwin,  p.  141.  The  animal  origin  of  man  a  necessary  consequence 
of  every  theory  of  descendence,  p.  142.  Claim  to  priority  on  the 
part  of  the  author,  p.  143.  Huxley's  three  Essays,  p.  144.  Refuta- 
tion of  Huxley's  attack  upon  materialism,  p.  307.  Huxley  on  some 
fossil  remains  of  man,  p.  144.  Further  discoveries  of  this  kind,  jaw  of 
La  Naulette,  p.  145,  308.  Jaws  of  Moulin-Quignon,  Hyeres,  Arcis-sur- 
Aube,  Grevenbriick,  &c.,  p.  147.  Rarity  of  human  remains  from 
primeval  times,  p.  148,  and  their  general  resemblance  to  animals,  p. 
149.  Existence  of  former  intermediate  forms  between  man  and  ani- 
mals, p.  149.  Fossil  remains  of  Apes.  p.  150.  Prehistoric  Ape-men, 
p.  150.  Extinction  of  the  Anthropoid  Apes  and  the  lowest  human 
races,  p.  151.  The  When?  where?  and  how?  of  the  first  production 
of  man,  p.  152.  Unity  or  multiplicity  of  mankind,  p.  152.  Applica- 
tion of  the  former  idea  of  species  to  man,  p.  153.  Races  of  man  and 
the  idea  of  races,  p.  309.  Diversity  of  languages,  p.  153.  Schleicher 
on  primeval  languages,  p.  154.  Agreement  of  the  Asiatic  and  African 
Anthropoid  Apes,  with  the  primitive  races  of  man  in  those  regions,  p. 
154.  Schaaffhausen  on  the  unity  or  multiplicity  of  the  genealogy  of 
man,  p.  155.  Vogt  a  defender  of  polygeny,  p.  155.  Hackel  on  the 
origin  of  man  and  his  unity  or  multiplicity,  p.  156.  Hackel's  primi- 
tive man  or  Ape-man,  p.  157.  Production  of  the  true  or  speaking 
man  from  the  speechless  primitive  man,  p.  158.  Division  of  the  prim- 
itive man  into  several  species,  p.  158.  Woolly  and  smooth-haired 
branches,  p.  159.  Further  divisions  of  these  branches,  p.  160.  The 
Caucasian  race  the  future  rulers  of  the  whole  world,  p.  160.  G. 
Pouchet  on  the  primitive  form  and  on  the  development  of  the  races  of 
man,  p.  161.     Solution  of  the  dispute,  p.  161.     Adam  and  Eve,  p.  162. 


12  CONTENTS. 

Rolle  on  the  conversion  of  the  animal  into  man,  p.  162.  Gradual  or 
sudden  development  of  human  qualities  in  individual  anthropoids,  p. 
163.  Relation  of  man  to  his  animal  cousins,  p.  164.  Intelligence  of 
the  great  Apes,  p.  165.  Wallace  on  a  youiig  Orang,  p.  165,  309.  In- 
telligence of  the  Orang,  Chimpanzee,  &c.,  p.  310.  Intellectual  life  of 
animals  in  general,  p.  166.  The  distinctions  between  man  and  animal 
disappear  on  close  consideration,  p.  166.  Savage  men  and  tribes,  pp. 
168,  312.  Marriage  and  family-life,  p.  168.  Social  organization,  p.  169. 
Sense  of  Shame,  p.  169.  Belief  in  God,  p.  319.  Art  of  numeration, 
p.  321.  Employment  of  tools,  p.  321.  Use  of  Fire,  p.  170.  Wearing 
Clothes,  p.  322.  Suicide,  p.  170.  Agriculture,  p  170.  Language  the 
most  striking  characteristic  of  man,  p.  170.  Imperfection  of  the  lan- 
guage of  savage^,  p.  323.  Origin  of  language,  p.  171.  Schleicher, 
Grimm,  and  J.  P.  Lesley  on  the  origin  of  language,  p.  324.  First  com- 
mencement of  language  according  to  C.  Royer,  p.  172.  Development 
of  language  from  emotional  and  imitative  sounds,  p.  173.  Bleek  on 
the  early  development  of  speech,  p.  173.  G.  Jiiger  on  the  language 
of  man  and  animals,  p.  174.  Origin  of  writing  according  to  L. 
D'Assier,  p.  176.     Conclusion,  p.  176. 

WHERE    ARE    WE   GOING? 

The  mystery  of  human  existence  is  solved,  p.  181.  The  questions 
of  the  how?  and  why?  of  existence,  p.  182.  Process  of  development, 
p.  182.  Solution  of  the  enigma  of  the  universe,  p.  183.  The  distinc- 
tion of  the  appearance  from  the  thing  itself  and  the  limitation  of  our 
sensuous  perception,  p.  325.  Increasing  scientific  knowledge  con- 
stantly binds  us  more  closely  to  earthly  life,  p.  184.  Man  as  the 
final  product  of  terrestrial  development,  p.  184.  The  world  first  made 
known  to  itself  in  man,  p.  185.  The  struggle  for  existence,  p.  186. 
Destiny  of  man,  p.  187.  Inheritance  of  intellectual  qualities,  p.  188. 
Influence  of  advancing  culture  upon  the  struggle  for  existence  in  man, 
p.  189.  Pacific  railway,  p.  190.  Question  of  the  development  of 
higher  races  in  the  future,  p.  191.  Improbability  of  this  supposi- 
tion, p.  192.  Advancing  development  of  the  brain,  pp.  193,  327.  Vio- 
lence of  the  struggle  for  existence  on  the  moral  and  social  domain, 
pp.  194,  195.  Its  conquest  by  the  endeavor  after  social  elevation  and 
common  happiness,  p.  196.  Replacement  of  the  struggle  for  the 
means  of  existence  by  that  for  existence,  p.   198.     The  government 


CONTENTS.  T3 

and  politics  of  the  future,  p.  200.  Republicanism,  federalism  and  cen- 
tralism, p.  202.  Division  of  lab-r,  pp.  203,  328.  Nationalities,  p.  204. 
Principle  of  nationality,  p.  205.  Former  national  hatred,  p.  205. 
Society  and  its  infinite  inequality,  p.  206.  Political  liberation  must 
be  completed  by  social  liberation,  p.  206.  Difference  between  the 
natural  and  social  struggle  for  existence,  p.  2!;i6.  Liberty  and  equality 
in  the  political  and  social  sense,  p.  207.  Equal  right  of  all  men  to  the 
material  and  intellectual  property  of  mankind,  p.  208.  Immense 
contrasts  in  the  present  state  of  society,  p.  20.S.  Want  of  physical  and 
intellectual  nourishment,  p.  209.  Unequal  payment  of  work,  p.  329. 
The  unbridled  struggle  for  existence  the  cause  of  social  misery,  p.  210. 
Egotism  the  mainspring  of  social  movement,  pp.  211,  330.  Tl^e  im- 
provement of  this  condition,  p.  211.  Communism,  pp.  211,  330,  331. 
Proposition  of  an  equalization  of  the  means  for  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence and  replacement  of  the  power  of  nature  by  the  power  of  rea- 
son, p.  213.  The  social  revolution  and  the  Bourgeoisie,  p.  332.  The 
soil  a  common  possession,  pp.  215,  333.  Limitation  of  the  right  of 
bequest,  pp.  215,  334.  Care  of  the  state  for  those  who  are  incapable 
of  earning,  pp.  216,  335.  Feudal  government  and  popular  govern- 
ment, p.  217.  Disadvantages  of  great  private  fortunes  and  advantages 
of  an  enrichment  of  the  commonwealth,  p.  218.  Capital  and  its 
nature,  p.  221.  Folly  of  the  cry  against  capital  as  such,  p.  221.  Its 
unjust  distribution,  p.  222.  Periodical  restoration  of  capital  to  the 
community,  p.  222.  Advantages  of  such  an  arrangement,  p.  223. 
Labor  and  laborers,  p.  225.  Folly  of  establishing  a  special  labor- 
question,  p.  225.  Work -takers  and  work-givers  and  the  capitalistic 
mode  of  production,  pp.  226,  227.  Lasalle's  productive  associations 
and  their  deficiencies,  p.  227.  Probable  formation  of  a  so-called  fifth 
estate,  p.  228.  State  aid  and  self-aid,  pp.  229,  346.  Means  of  sal- 
vation, p.  230.  Judgment  upon  the  Lassallean  agitation  among  the 
workmen,  p.  230.  The  family,  p.  232.  Ideal  and  real  families,  p.  233. 
IVIiserable  state  of  family  life  in  the  lower  strata  of  society,  p.  234. 
Defective  education  of  children  and  fertility  of  proletaires,  p.  235. 
Advantages  of  social  education  over  domestic,  p.  235.  Good  and  bad 
families,  p.  235.  Education,  p.  237.  A  good,  popular  education  the 
duty  of  the  state,  p.  237.  Importance  of  schools  for  the  people,  p.  237. 
Crime  and  criminals,  p.  238.  Higher  and  lower  educational  institutes, 
p.  238.  The  Universities  and  their  reform,  p.  337.  Establishment  of 
a  legal  working  day,  pp.  239,  338.     Woman  and  her  emancipation,  p. 


14  CONTENTS. 

241.  The  female  brain,  p.  246.  The  political  equalization  of  women, 
p.  248.  War-service  of  women,  p.  249.  Marriage,  p.  250.  Import- 
ance of  sexual  selection,  p.  250.  Absurd  fear  of  over-population,  p. 
252.  Morals  and  the  only  right  principle  of  morality,  p.  254.  No  in- 
nate conscience  or  law  of  morality,  p.  255.  Egotism  the  mainspring 
of  all  human  dealings,  pp.  25S,  339.  The  moral  principle  of  tlie 
future,  p.  259.  Religion  and  its  sources,  p.  260.  Replacement  of 
faith  by  knowledge  ;  morals  and  religion  have  originally  nothing  in 
common,  p.  260.  Religion  rather  inimical  than  favorable  to  civiliza- 
tion, p.  261.  Morality  independent  of  the  belief  in  God,  p.  262. 
Emancipation  of  the  State  and  of  the  school  from  ecclesiastical  influ- 
ence, p.  263.  Christianity  or  Paulinism,  p.  263.  Christianity  as  a 
world-religion,  p.  264.  Rome  and  Christianity,  p.  265.  Philosophy, 
p.  267.  Death  as  the  cause  of  all  philosophy,  p.  269.  Imperishable- 
ness  of  our  nature,  p.  269.  Materialism  and  idealism  are  not  oppo- 
sites,  p.  272.  Confusion  of  theoretical  and  practical  materialism,  p. 
274.     Progressive  tendency  and  programme  of  materialism,  p.  274. 


INTRODUCTION. 


"The  great  business  of  life  —  even  that  which  lies  most  immediately  before  us 
—  will  be  more  fully  understood  and  more  rationally  performed,  the  better  man 
knows  the  place  he  holds  and  the  relations  he  bears  to  the  plan  of  Creation."— 
D.  Page. 

"  When  we  glance  over  the  results  of  modern  research,  now  flowing  in  from 
all  sides,  and  consider  them  in  their  significance  for  the  knowledge  of  man,  it 
can  no  longer  be  a  matter  of  doubt  that  we  have  come  to  the  end  of  established 
notions,  and  that  we  are  approaching  a  dififerent   conception    of   nature." — 

SCHAAFFHAUSEN. 

"Natural  history  in  the  present  day  gives  us  a  higher  conception  of  the  Uni- 
verse than  that  entertained  by  the  ancients  ;  it  no  longer  regards  the  material 
world  as  the  plaything  of  mere  caprice,  or  history  as  an  unequal  contest  between 
God  and  Man  ;  it  embraces  the  past,  the  present  and  the  future  as  a  magnificent 
unity,  outside  of  which  nothing  can  exist." — A.  Laugel. 

IN  his  admirable  Essay  on  Man' s  Place  in  Nature,  the  cele- 
brated anatomist  and  philosopher,  Professor  Huxley,  com- 
pares the  process  of  development  by  which  the  human 
intellect  is  constantly  advancing  towards  truth,  with  the 
periodical  moultings  of  a  feedi7i^  and  growing  grnb.  "  From 
time  to  time,"  he  says,  "  the  old  integument  becomes  too  strait- 
ened for  the  growing  animal,  it  is  therefore  burst  asunder  and 
replaced  by  a  new  and  larger  growth.  Precisely  the  same 
thing  occurs  in  the  history  of  the  intellectual  development  of 
man.  The  human  mind,  fed  by  constant  accessions  of 
knowledge,  grows  too  large  for  its  theoretical  coverings,  and 
periodically  bursts  them  asunder,  to  appear  in  new  habili- 
ments." 

Since  the  revival  of  learning  in  the  fifteenth  century,  there 
has  been  an  abundance  of  strong  food  for  the  human  intellect, 

(16) 


1 6  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,   AND    FUTURE. 

the  education  of  which  was  indeed  commenced  by  the  Greek 
philosophers,  but  then  suffered  the  interruption  of  a  long  in- 
tellectual stagnation  or  sleep  of  fourteen  centuries.  I  will  not 
stop  to  enquire,  by  what  influence  this  stagnation  was  brought 
about,  although  this  is  clear  enough  to  the  eyes  of  those  who 
are  acquainted  with  true  history,  and  not  merely  with  that  sub- 
stitute for  it  which  has  been  concocted  by  theologians  and 
philosophers  for  their  own  purposes. 

But  this  revival  of  science  being  once  set  on  foot,  it  was 
inevitable  that  a  more  frequent  bursting  of  the  old  integu- 
ments would  take  place,  and  this  process  of  intellectual  moulting 
must  be  frequently  repeated.  And  so  it  was  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, by  the  overthrow  of  the  old  astronomical  system  and  the 
influence  of  the  Reformation  !  and  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  by  the  period  of  intellectual  enlightenment  and  the 
influence  of  the  great  French  Revolution  ! 

And  now  once  more  the  human  intellect  has  received  such  a 
quantity  of  strong  and  stimulating  nourishment  by  the  extra- 
ordinary progress  of  the  natural  sciences  during  the  last  fifty 
years,  that  a  new  and  great  change  and  a  repeated  bursting  of 
the  old  integuments  appears  to  be  inevitable. 

Nevertheless,  as  Huxley  remarks  in  carrying  still  further 
his  admirable  simile,  just  as  these  periodical  moultings  are  not 
effected  without  superinducing  various  diseased  conditions, 
disturbances,  and  general  debility  in  the  animal  undergoing 
change,  —  so  also  in  the  intellectual  world  these  metamor- 
phoses are  likewise  attended  with  perils  and  discomforts  of  all 
kinds.  Therefore,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  good  citizen  and 
patriot  to  aid  with  all  the  strength  and  means  at  his  command, 
(however  small  they  may  be),  towards  the  speedy  and  satisfac- 
tory completion  of  this  process  or  necessary  crisis,  or  at  any 
rate  to  do  what  he  can  to  assist  in  bursting  and  stripping  off 
the  old  integuments,  and  thus  give  room  and  liberty  to  the 
growing  body. 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

This  masterly  comparison,  by  which  at  the  outset  of  his 
Essay,  Professor  Huxley  seeks  to  show,  that  it  was  his  right,  or 
better  still  his  duty  to  take  part  in  the  public  discussion  of  the 
greatest  scientific  question  of  his  age,  may  also  serve  to 
excuse  or  justify  the  author  of  the  present  book  for  having 
undertaken  to  treat  in  a  familiar  style  a  question  so  important 
and  difficult  as  the  position  of  man  in  nature,  and  to  present  to 
the  general  public  an  exposition  of  the  results  attained  by 
modern  science  for  its  elucidation,  and  for  the  refutation  of  old- 
world  errors  and  prejudices. 

Professor  Huxley  is  undoubtedly  in  the  right  in  describing 
this  question  of  Man's  place  in  nature  and  his  relations  to  the 
universe,  as  the  question  of  questions  for  mankind, — as  a  prob- 
lem which  lies  at  the  root  of  all  others  and  interests  us  more 
profoundly  than  any  other. 

"  Whence  our  race  has  come  ;"  he  says,  "  what  are  the 
limits  of  our  power  over  nature  and  of  nature's  power  over  us ; 
to  what  goal  are  we  tending  ;  are  the  problems  which  present 
themselves  anew  and  with  undiminished  interest  to  every  man 
born  into  the  world."  More  simply  expressed,  these  are  the 
old  questions  which  have  in  all  times  occupied  the  human 
mind,  and  which  run  as  follows  : 

Whence  do  we  come  ?  What  are  we  ?  and  whither  are  we 
going  ? —  Problems  which  formerly  seemed  to  be  veiled  in  the 
deepest  obscurity  of  impenetrable  secrecy,  and  which  first  re- 
ceived some  elucidation  or  illumination  from  the  science  of  our 
own  day. 

In  former  times,  the  answer  to  such  questions  as  these  could, 
of  course,  but  accommodate  itself  to  the  general  philosophi- 
cal and  theological  ideas  of  the  age,  and  that  mystery  espe- 
cially with  Afhich  we  are  now  chiefly  occupied,  lay  until  quite 
recently  buried  under  such  a  load  of  ignorance  and  prejudice 
that,  from  a  scientific  standpoint,  it  could  only  be  regarded  as 
insoluble  and  incapable  of  any  scientific  treatment.     Hence  it 


l8  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

came  about,  that  the  fundamental  problem  of  all,  namely,  that 
of  the  origin  and  production  or  genealogy  of  the  human  race, 
was  almost  unanimously  declared,  not  merely  by  the  philos- 
ophers of  former  days,  but  also  in  unison  with  them  by  gen- 
eral opinion  to  be  transcendental.,  that  is  to  say,  beyond  the 
reach  of  human  powers  of  conception  and  comprehension,  (at 
all  events,  so  far  as  these  rested  upon  observation  and  expe- 
rience.) 

Who  could  have  suspected,  even  a  few  years  ago,  that 
within  so  short  a  period  the  progress  of  knowledge  and  of 
scientific  induction  would  throw  a  light  so  clear  and  certain 
upon  this  mystery  of  mysteries — upon  the  earliest  past  history 
and  the  first  commencement  of  our  race  upon  the  earth  ? 

We  may  say  without  exaggeration,  that  this  step  stands  in 
the  first  line  of  all  the  advances  made  by  the  human  mind  ; 
that  the  discovery  of  the  7iatural  origin  of  man,  and  the  de- 
monstration of  his  true  position  in  the  universe,  deserves  to  be 
ranged  side  by  side  with  the  greatest  scientific  discoveries  of 
all  times,  if  indeed  it  should  not  be  raised  above  them. 

Those  men  of  science  of  our  day  who  have  applied  their 
minds  most  thoroughly  to  this  subject,  have  found  themselves 
constrained  to  express  themselves  in  the  same  or  a  similar 
manner.  Thus  Professor  Schaaff  hausen  says  :  "  To  have 
ascertained  the  real  origin  of  man  is  a  discovery  so  fertile  in 
its  consequences  for  all  human  conceptions,  that  futurity  will 
perhaps  regard  this  result  of  investigation  as  the  greatest  of 
which  the  attainment  was  allotted  to  the  human  mind."  And 
from  the  opinion  expressed  by  Professor  Ernest  Haeckel  in  his 
Naturliche  Schop/nngsgeschichte,  (Berlin,  i860,  p.  487),  the 
recognition  of  the  natural  (and  especially  the  animal)  origin  of 
man  must  sooner  or  later  bring  about  a  complete  revolution 
in  our  entire  conception  of  the  relations  of  mankind  and  the 
world. 

There  is  perhaps  only  a  single  scientific  discovery,  which  in 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

point  of  importance  and  far-reaching  consequences  is  to  be 
placed  on  the  same  level  with  this,  and  that  is  the  discovery 
that  the  earth  moves  and  that  the  sun  is  stationary,  or  the 
establishment  of  the  so-called  Copernican  system  of  the 
universe*  Of  all  those  "burstings  forth"  or  "moultings" 
of  the  human  mind,  already  spoken  of,  and  which  we  may 
count  so  many  of  greater  or  less  importance  in  the  history  of 
the  development  of  human  civilization,  this  great  astronomi- 
cal discovery  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  important  and 
conspicuous.  Nowadays  we  can  hardly  form  a  notion  of  the 
immense  influence  which  the  great  discovery  of  Nicholas 
Copernicus,  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  after  the 
long  intellectual  lethargy  of  the  middle  ages,  exerted  upon  the 
men  of  that  and  the  following  century;  in  this  respect,  and  as 
enlarging  the  intellectual  horizon  of  the  men  of  that  time, 
there  is  nothing  to  compare  with  it  except  perhaps  the  dis- 
covery of  America. 

Starting  from  this  idea,  Professor  Haeckel,  in  an  admirable 
lecture  on  the  origin  and  genealogy  of  the  human  race,  (Ber- 
lin, 1868,)  indicates  hvo  errors  as  the  greatest  and  most 
serious  in  their  consequences,  which  still,  as  formerly,  stand 
in  opposition  to   the  development  of  the  human  intellect. 

These  he  very  appropriately  calls  the  geocentric  and  the  an- 
thropoceyitric  errors.  The  geocentric  error  consisted  in  regard- 
ing the  earth  as  the  central  point  and  chief  object  in  the  whole 
universe,  the  other  parts  of  which  were  considered  only  to 

*  In  the  year  1543,  Nicholas  Copernicus  published  his  celebrated  book  on  the  ■ 
Paths  0/ the  Heavenly  Bodies^  which  effected  a  complete  revolution  not  only  in 
astronomy,  but  also  in  the  whole  conception  of  the  Universe  of  that  day.  In 
gratitude  for  this  he  was  regarded  as  a  fool  by  his  contemporaries!  Even  the 
great  reformer  Dr.  Martin  Luther,  who,  however,  like  his  opponents,  was  a  theo- 
logian, was  so  unable  to  comprehend  the  new  discovery  that  he  came  forward  as 
a  bitter  opponent  of  Copernicus,  and  expresses  himself  with  regard  to  him  as 
follows  in  his  Table-Talk:  "The  fool  wishes  to  upset  the  whole  art  of  Astron- 
omy. But  as  Holy  Scripture  shows,  Joshua  commanded  the  sun  and  not  the 
earth  to  stand  still."  Might  not  our  zealots  against  modern  science  take  an 
example  from  this  ? 


20  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

serve  the  purposes  of  this  central  point  and  its  inhabitants; 
the  anthropoceritric  error,  which  even  still  governs  the  great 
majority  of  mankind,  regards  man  as  the  centre  and  sole 
object  of  the  whole  organic  creation — as  the  image  of  God,  or 
the  ruler  and  centre  of  the  terrestrial  world  —  the  whole  mech- 
anism of  which  has  been  organized  and  exists  solely  for  his  use 
and  with  reference  to  his  special  needs. 

The  former  of  these  errors,  as  is  well  known,  was  over- 
turned and  swept  away  by  Copernicus,  Kepler,  Galileo  and 
Newton;  the  second  by  Lamarck,  Goethe,  Lyell,  Darwin  and 
their  adherents  and  followers. 

It  is  of  this  second  error  and  its  removal,  or  rather  of  what 
is  to  be  put  in  its  place,  that  the  present  book  will  particularly 
treat.  But  before  entering  into  details  upon  the  subject,  the 
author  will  venture  to  refer  to  a  phenomenon  which,  as  his- 
tory teaches  us,  has  always  repeated  itself  with  every  new  and 
great  discovery,  and  of  course  is  not  wanting  in  the  present 
case.  This  is  the  entirely  unbounded  fear  which  takes  pos- 
session of  the  minds  of  men  with  regard  to  the  supposed  terri- 
ble consequences  of  such  discoveries  —  or  of  the  promulgation 
of  a  new  scientific  or  philosophical  conception  of  the  universe. 
When  the  Copernican  system  began  to  prevail,  not  only  reli- 
gion but  the  whole  moral  order  of  the  world  was  supposed  to 
be  fearfully  shaken  and  imperiled,  and  people  thought  that, 
with  the  change  in  opinion  as  to  the  relative  positions  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  faith  and  civilization,  religion  and  morality, 
government  and  society  must  at  once  go  to  the  wall,  or  at  least 
undergo  the  most  serious  injuries.  In  reality,  however,  as  is 
well  known,  not  one  of  all  these  dreaded  consequences  and 
terrible  prophecies  was  realized,  but  on  the  contrary  mankind 
has  since  progressed  in  the  most  remarkable  manner,  not 
merely  intellectually,  but  also  in  morality  and  civilization,  and 
actually  by  the  aid  and  in  fact  by  the  influence  of  this  very 
enlargement  of  knowledge. 


INTRODUCTION. 


As  it  was  then,  so  it  will  be  now.  All  the  innumerable  dec- 
lamations and  tirades  of  the  votaries  of  darkness  and  victims 
of  fear,  in  opposition  to  the  recent  step  in  advance,  will  not 
only  have  no  effect  against  the  truth,  but  the  apprehensions 
raised  by  them  will  in  no  way  be  fulfilled.  In  the  eyes  of  the 
writer  and  probably  of  every  thinking  man,  every  intellectual 
advance  of  mankind,  every  great  approximation  to  the  truth, 
is  at  the  same  time  an  advance  both  materially  and  morally ! 

With  regard  to  the  so-called  anthropocentric  error,  against 
which  the  recent  discovery  of  the  true  position  of  man  in 
nature  must  be  regarded  as  especially  directed,  it  is  in  itself, 
equally  intelligible  and  excusable.  For  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  numerous  facts  which  the  indefatigable  spirit  of  research 
has  now  placed  at  our  command,  man  appears,  at  the  first 
superficial  glance,  to  be  so  thoroughly  and  fundamentally  dif- 
ferent from  surrounding  nature,  that  we  can  scarcely  blame  our 
ancestors  for  not  having  known  or  even  suspected  the  intimate 
and  insoluble  connection  that  exists  between  all  the  phenom- 
ena of  nature  and  life,  not  excepting  those  presented  by  man 
himself. 

"  In  the  past,"  as  Prof  Perty  says  in  his  Anlhropologische 
Vortrdge,  (Leipzig,  1863,)  "man  appeared  to  be  a  creature 
foreign  to  the  earth  and  placed  upon  it  as  a  transitory  inhab- 
itant by  some  incomprehensible  power.  The  more  perfect 
insight  of  the  present  day  sees  man  as  a  being  whose  develop- 
ment has  taken  place  in  accordance  with  the  same  laws  that 
have  governed  the  development  of  the  earth  and  its  entire  or- 
ganization,—  a  being  not  put  upon  the  earth  accidentally  by 
an  arbitrary  act,  but  produced  in  harmony  with  the  earth's 
nature,  and  belonging  to  it  as  do  the  flowers  and  the  fruits  to 
the  tree  which  bears  them." 

These  ideas  are  also  clearly  and  tersely  expressed  by  an 
English  writer,  as  follows  :  "In  the  opinions  of  former  philos- 
ophers, man  was  an  exceptional  instance  in  the  grand  scheme 


22  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND   FUTURE. 

of  creation;  he  formed  an  isolated  phenomenon  in  the  great 
plan  of  nature,  to  make  free  with  whom,  after  the  ordinary 
fashion  of  inductive  inquiry,  was  little  other  than  an  act  of  open 
and  scandalous  impiety."  {Aiithropol.  Review,  1865,  No.  9.) 

The  state  of  things  here  pictured  has  now  indeed  been  radi- 
cally changed  :  for  as  soon  as  we  investigate  the  position  of 
man  from  the  standpoint  of  modern  science  and  the  great  dis- 
coveries of  recent  days,  setting  aside  all  old  prejudices,  we 
come  at  once  to  results  which  are  completely  opposed  to 
former  views.  We  find,  that  man  is  most  intimately  connected 
with  surrounding  nature,  not  only  in  his  bodily  but  also  in  his 
intellectual  qualities,  and  that  his  elevated  position  is  due  only 
to  the  higher  and  more  varied  development  of  his  powers  and 
faculties. 

Formerly,  with  a  strange  and  wilful  blindness.  Nature,  from 
whose  bosom  man  has  sprung,  was  regarded,  not  as  his  friend 
and  relative,  but  on  the  contrary  as  the  greatest  obstacle  in 
his  course  of  life,  and  especially  in  the  way  to  the  evolution  of 
his  highest  intellectual  powers.  I  could  cite  innumerable  pas- 
sages from  our  most  celebrated  philosophers,  in  which  these 
notions  are  expressed  in  the  clearest  manner.  Nay,  they 
sometimes  even  went  so  far  as  to  declare  positively,  that  nature 
was  merely  a  revolt  of  the  mind  against  itself,  and  therefore 
they  loaded  matter,  which  forms  the  foundation  of  all  nature, 
with  the  coarsest  invectives.  Truly  such  conduct  as  this  was 
as  irrational  as  that  of  a  child  who  raises  its  hand  against  its 
parents. 

We  know  only  too  well  how  far  this  contempt  for  nature  in 
contradistinction  to  the  world  of  the  spirit,  was  carried  by  those 
whose  conceptions  of  the  universe  were  drawn  from  religious 
and  especially  from  Christian  sources.  This  senseless  fanati- 
cism of  rage  against  our  own  flesh  must  soon  come  to  an  end 
in  the  presence  of  the  great  discoveries  now  under  discussion. 
For  what  we  have  now  especially  to  seek  in  the  interests  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

individual  man  and  of  the  human  race,  is  not  a  contempt  and 
rejection  of  nature,  but  the  most  intimate  acquaintance  with  it, 
in  order  that  by  this  knowledge  we  may  understand  it,  honor 
it,  and  conquer  it. 

To  the  gradual  diffusion  of  this  knowledge  are  due  the  great 
influence  and  authority  which  the  natural  sciences  have  ac- 
quired in  the  last  fifty  years,  and  this  will  become  more  and 
more  striking  as  time  goes  on. 

It  is  true  indeed,  (and  in  the  interests  of  historical  accuracy 
this  must  not  be  forgotten),  the  real  position  of  man  in  nature 
was  partially  understood  or  recognized  by  a  few  remarkable 
thinkers  at  a  very  early  period,  long  before  the  promulgation 
of  the  observations  which  we  have  now  at  our  command.  But 
theirs  were  isolated  guesses,  resting  upon  an  intellectual  intui- 
tion destitute  of  the  necessary  basis  of  empirical  proof,  and 
therefore  could  never  arrive  at  general  acceptance.  The  sci- 
ence of  our  time  could  alone  furnish  them  with  the  necessary 
foundation. 

As  regards  this  science  itself,  we  must  place  in  the  first  rank 
the  recent  and  interesting  investigation  into  the  antiqtiity  of  the 
humayi  race  upon  the  earth  ; — an  antiquity  which  seems  to  us 
primeval  and  leaves  far  behind  it  all  historical  tradition.  Of 
this  so-c2!^^'\  prehistoric  existence  of  man,  no  one  formerly  had 
the  least  knowledge  or  suspicion,  and  this  circumstance  alone 
must  have  almost  completely  barred  the  way  to  a  right  recog- 
nition of  the  position  of  man  in  Nature. 

For  if  we  imagine  man,  in  accordance  with  the  universally 
prevailing  opinion  of  former  times,  created  and  placed  upon 
the  earth  by  an  Almighty  sovereign  or  creative  power  about 
five  thousand  or  six  tliousand  years  ago, —  if  we  suppose  that 
he  was  then  in  all  essential  points  the  same  thing  or  creature 
that  we  now  behold  him,  or  even  perhaps  still  more  perfect, — 
as  a  matter  of  course  every  thread  which  could  bind  him  in 
accordance  with  regular  laws   with   the  rest  of  the  universe,  is 


24  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,   AND    FUTURE. 

entirely  wanting,  and  there  is  no  room  for  any  otiier  opinion 
than  the  old  one  which  we  have  here  indicated.  But  the  late 
discoveries  and  investigations  as  to  the  primeval  existence  of 
man  upon  the  earth  have  proved  that  man,  although  the  high- 
est and  perhaps  the  youngest  member  of  the  organic  creation, 
has  already  lived  upon  the  earth  during  a  period  in  comparison 
with  which  the  few  thousands  of  years  covered  by  human  his- 
tory and  tradition  shrink  almost  to  a  single  moment. 

The  facts  proving  this  assertion  will  form  the  subject  of  the 
following  section,  the  first  of  the  three  great  divisions  of  our 
book. 


OUR    ORIGIN, 


THE     ANTIQUITY     AND    ORIGINAL    STATE     OF    THE   HUMAN    RACE, 
AND    ITS    DEVELOPMENT   FROM    A    BARBAROUS    BEGINNING. 

"  Natural  history  has  traced  back  the  history  of  Man  to  a  period  which  lies  far 
beyond  all  historical  tradition.  It  has  put  back  the  antiquity  of  our  race  into 
that  far  past  time  when  the  European  man  fought  with  the  cave  animals  of  the 
diluvium,  and  not  only  ate  the  flesh  of  the  Mammoth  and  Rhinoceros  and  the 
marrow  of  their  bones,  but  even  laid  cannibal  hands  on  the  flesh  of  his  own  kind, 
—  into  a  time  when  in  our  regions  man  fed  his  herds  of  Reindeer  amongst  the 
glaciers,  or  lived  in  the  pile-dwellings  of  our  lakes,  or  heaped  up  on  the  northern 
coasts  great  mounds  of  shells,  the  relics  of  his  meals."— Prof.  Schaaffhausen. 
(  Vortrag  iiber  die  anthropologischen  Frageti  der  Gegenwart.) 

"  Modem  science  is  not  contented  with  breaking  down  the  foundations  of  clas- 
sical chronologies,  which  indeed  were  already  in  a  very  dilapidated  state,  and 
throwing  back  the  origin  of  man  to  a  period  so  distant,  that  in  comparison  with 
it,  our  written  history  appears  like  a  passing  moment  in  a  series  of  centuries 
which  the  mind  is  unable  to  grasp.     It  goes  still  further,"  etc.— A.  Laugel. 

IN  the  year  1852,  or  some  forty  years  ago,  an  ancient  cavern 
was  accidentally  discovered  in  France,  on  the  southern 
slope  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  close  to  the  little  town  of  Aurignac, 
in  the  department  of  the  Haute  Garonne.  This  has  since  be- 
come celebrated  under  the  name  of  the  "  Cavern  of  Aurignac." 
It  was  closed  by  a  heavy  slab  of  sandstone,  and  in  it  were  found 
the  skeletons  or  bones  of  at  least  seventeen  human  beings, 
men,  women  and  children,  which  had  been  deposited  there. 
At  first,  unfortunately,  a  very  imperfect  examination  of  the 
cave  was  made,  and  the  bones  were  again  deposited  in  some 
other  place. 

It  was  only  after  an   interval  of  eight  years  (or  in  the  year 
t86o\  that  a  careful  and  scientific  examination  and  description 


26  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND   FUTURE. 

of  the  place  was  made  by  the  famous  French  palaeontologist, 
M.  E.  Lartet,  who  had  long  been  familiarly  acquainted  with 
the  numerous  bone  caves  of  the  south  of  France  and  with 
their  contents. 

By  this  examination  it  was  established  beyond  the  reach  of 
doubt,  that  the  cave  of  Aurignac  was  a  primeval  sepulchre  of 
the  stone  age, —  of  a  period  when  a  great  number  of  what  are 
commonly  called  antediluvian  animals,  of  species  long  since 
extinct,  were  still  living  in  our  part  of  the  world. 

When  the  rubbish  which  covered  the  slope  was  cleared 
away,  it  appeared  that  the  floor  of  the  cave  had  in  former 
times  been  continued  forward,  so  as  to  form  a  spacious  open 
place  or  terrace  in  front  of  it.  This  terrace  had  evidently 
served  the  important  purpose  of  furnishing  the  scene  of  the 
funeral  ceremonies.  Upon  it  a  layer  of  ashes  and  fragments  of 
wood  charcoal,  six  inches  thick,  was  found,  and  beneath  this  a 
sort  of  rough  hearth,  composed  of  several  flat  pieces  of  sand- 
stone reddened  by  the  action  of  fire  and  resting  immediately 
upon  the  underlying  limestone.  But  the  most  remarkable 
thing  was,  that  among  the  ashes  and  in  the  soil  which  covered 
them,  a  great  quantity  of  the  bones  of  animals  and  many  arti- 
cles of  human  handiwork  were  found.  Of  the  latter  at  least  a 
hundred  were  discovered.  They  were  all  made  of  stone  and 
chiefly  of  flint.  Among  them  were  knives,  arrowheads,  sling- 
stones,  flint-flakes  and  other  objects,  besides  one  of  those  flint 
nodules,  which  occur  so  abundantly  in  the  chalk  hills  of  France, 
and  from  which  the  flint  implements  were  manufactured  ;  this 
also  had  its  surfaces  chipped.  With  these  was  found  a  sort  of 
hammer,  consisting  of  a  rounded  stone  with  a  hollow  place  on 
each  side ;  this  was  made  of  a  kind  of  rock  not  found  in  the 
district.  It  was  probably  held  by  placing  the  thumb  and  fore- 
finger in  the  two  opposite  cavities  and  may  have  been  em- 
ployed in  the  manufacture  of  the  flint  implements.  Besides 
these  stone  implements,  others  were  found,   made  from  the 


OUR    ORIGIN.  27 

bones  and  horns  of  the  Roe  and  Reindeer,  such  as  needles, 
arrow-heads,  awls,  scraping  knives,  etc.,  and  also  the  canine 
tooth  of  a  young  Cave  Bear,  bored  lengthwise  and  worked  in 
a  peculiar  manner,  apparently  to  represent  the  head  of  a  bird. 
This  probably  was  suspended  from  the  neck  as  an  amulet  or 
ornament. 

The  bones  of  animals  were  very  numerous,  and  for  the  most 
part  belonged  to  species  which  lived  in  that  Quarternary  or 
Diluvial  period  of  geological  history  which  immediately  pre- 
ceded our  own  epoch.  No  fewer  than  nineteen  species  were 
counted,  and  among  these  were  the  very  animals  which  are 
most  characteristic  of  the  Diluvial  period,  such  as  the  Cave 
Bear,  the  Cave  Hyena,  the  Mammoth  or  primeval  Elephant, 
the  Wooly  Rhinoceros,  the  Gigantic  Irish  Deer,  Horse,  Rein- 
deer and  Aurochs.  Bones  of  herbivorous  animals  were  by  far 
the  most  numerous  ;  those  of  the  Carnivora  and  also  those  of 
the  Mammoth  and  Rhinoceros  occurred  but  rarely.  Hence  we 
may  conclude,  that  the  last  named  animals  were  too  formidable 
or  too  powerful  to  be  hunted  and  killed  by  these  early  men. 
All  the  marrow-bones,  without  exception,  were  broken  and 
split  up  to  enable  these  primitive  people  to  get  at  the  marrow, 
which  was  one  of  their  great  dainties.  Most  of  the  bones  were 
also  scratched  or  furrowed  lengthwise,  as  if  they  had  been 
scraped  with  some  rough  instrument,  such  as  a  flint  knife,  to 
detach  the  last  morsels  of  flesh  adhering  to  them.  Man)'-  of 
the  bones  also  showed  marks  of  the  teeth  of  predaceous  animals, 
and  the  spongy  portions  of  them  were  gnawed  off".  This  must 
have  been  done  by  the  Hyenas,  of  which  the  petrified  faeces 
(coprolites)  were  found  lying  about  in  abundance.  Many 
bones  showed  evident  traces  of  the  action  of  fire,  and  these 
were  of  such  a  kind  as  to  prove  that  the  bones  were  in  a  fresh 
state  when  exposed  to  it. 

Of  human  boties  not  one  was  fo2ind  outside  the  cave. — 
Within    it,   however,  many  were  found,   chiefly  those  of  the 


28  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

hands  and  feet,  which  had  been  left  behind  in  the  first  clearing 
out.  Tiieir  general  condition  was  precisely  the  same  as  that 
of  the  bones  of  the  extinct  animals,  the  Cave  Bear,  Mammoth, 
etc.,  and  their  chemical  examination  showed  them  to  contain 
exactly  the  same  quantity  of  organic  matter.  All  the  bones 
whether  of  men  or  animals  presented  the  signs  of  high  antiquity  ; 
they  were  friable  and  porous,  and  adhered  to  the  tongue. 

Besides  the  human  bones  the  interior  of  the  cave  contained 
a  number  of  bones  belonging  to  the  same  species  of  animals 
that  were  found  outside  it,  but  these  presented  one  very 
remarkable  difference, —  no  traces  of  any  violence,  of  gnawing, 
breaking,  or  the  action  of  fire,  could  be  detected  upon  them. 
Amongst  others,  all  the  bones  of  the  leg  of  a  Cave  Bear  were 
found  lying  together  in  their  natural  position,  from  which  we 
may  justly  conclude,  that  this  limb  was  put  into  the  cave  in  an 
uninjured  state  and  whilst  still  covered  with  flesh.  There  were 
also  eighteen  small,  flat  plates  of  a  pearly  substance,  evidentiy 
derived  from  a  cockle-shell  {Cardium).  These  were  all  perfo- 
rated in  the  middle  and  were  probably  strung  upon  a  cord  for 
the  purpose  of  being  used  as  a  necklace.  Lastly,  the  cave 
contained  a  great  number  of  well  preserved  flint-knives,  which 
apparently  had  never  been  used,  a  few  instruments  made  of 
horn,  and  other  objects  of  the  same  kind.  There  were  how- 
ever in  the  interior  of  the  cave  no  traces  of  the  charcoal  and 
ashes  which  were  so  plentiful  on  the  outside  of  it. 

On  his  third  visit  to  the  cave  M.  Lartet  examined  the 
rubbish,  which  had  been  heaped  up  near  it  when  it  was  first 
cleared  out.  In  this  he  found  many  specimens  of  worked  flint- 
stones  and  teeth  of  men  and  animals,  together  with  a  great 
number  of  fragments,  pottery  roughly  made  by  hand  and  dried 
in  the  sun  or  half  burnt,  and  various  ornaments  made  of  hard 
bone.  There  is  little  difficulty  in  seeing  what  is  the  signifi- 
cance of  this  remarkable  discovery.     The  cave  of  Aurignac 


OUR    ORIGIN.  29 

was  evidently  a  primeval  sepulchre  of  the  so-called  Stone-age, 
in  which  the  remains  of  seventeen  human  beings  had  been 
successively  deposited.  These  people  were  of  small  stature. 
More  than  this,  unfortunately,  we  cannot  say,  as  the  skeletons 
could  not  be  found  in  the  place  of  their  second  interment. 
The  objects  found  in  the  interior  of  the  grotto  seem  to  indicate 
that,  in  accordance  with  the  custom  still  prevailing  among 
barbarous  people,  food,  implements,  weapons  and  even  orna- 
ments, were  placed  in  the  grave  with  the  dead.  The  heavy 
sandstone  slab  before  the  entrance  to  the  cave  evidently  served 
to  close  it  temporarily  and  to  protect  it  from  the  visits  of  wild 
animals. 

The  flat  place  or  terrace  in  front  of  the  cave  is  even  more 
interesting  than  the  cave  itself.  Upon  this,  evidently,  the 
relations  and  other  mourners  of  the  deceased  held  the  funeral 
feasts.  This  is  clearly  proved  by  the  hearth,  the  fragments  of 
charcoal,  the  bones,  with  traces  of  the  action  of  fire  and  of 
violence  upon  them,  and  the  instruments  with  which  the  flesh 
was  cut  and  scraped  from  the  bones.  After  each  interment, 
when  the  place  was  left  by  its  human  visitors  and  the  cave 
itself  was  closed  with  the  sandstone  slab,  the  Hyenas  came  at 
night  to  regale  upon  the  relics  of  the  feast,  as  is  proved  by  the 
marks  of  gnawing  upon  the  bones  and  the  coprolites  scattered 
about. 

Thus  this  discovery  gives  us  a  pretty  distinct  picture  of  the 
life  and  doings  of  the  primitive  European  man  at  a  period 
when  history  did  not  exist,  and  when  Europe  was  still  inhabited 
by  those  large  and  powerful  quadrupeds  which  have  hitherto 
been  regarded  as  characteristic  of  a  geological  period  ante- 
cedent to  our  own,  and  which  have  since  given  place  to  a  very 
different  set  of  animal  inhabitants.  The  antique  picture  thus 
unrolled  before  us,  agrees  in  its  details  most  remarkably  with 
that  which  we  obtain  from  the  accounts  of  travellers  of  the 
customs  of  savage  nations  in  distant  parts  of  the  earth.     Thus, 


3©  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

amongst  Others,  we  have  the  journal  of  an  English  traveller, 
John  Carver,  who  journeyed  through  North  America  in  the 
years  1766-68  and  witnessed  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  an 
Indian  tribe  in  what  is  now  the  state  of  Iowa,  at  the  junction 
of  the  Mississippi  with  St.  Peter's  River.  He  describes  these 
ceremonies  perfectly  in  accordance  with  the  data  furnished  by 
the  discovery  at  Aurignac,  and,  as  Sir  Charles  Lyell  states, 
(^Antiqidty  of  Maii),  his  account  served  our  great  poet  Schiller 
as  the  model  of  his  well-known  Nadowessische  Todtenklage, 
in  which  the  rites  observed  at  the  funeral  of  an  Indian  chief  are 
described  in  precisely  the  same  manner. 

The  actual  antiquity  of  the  cave  of  Aurignac  has  been 
estimated  at  50 —  10,000  years.  Whether  or  not  this  estimate 
is  correct,  this  remarkable  discovery  certainly  justifies  us  in 
coming  to  the  following  conclusions  : 

1.  That  long  before  the  existence  of  any  history,  or  even  of 
any  tradition,  a  savage  tribe  of  men  must  have  lived  in  Europe 
in  a  barbarous  condition,  or  displaying  such  rudiments  of 
civilization  as  we  now  find  among  existing  savages  ; 

2.  That  this  tribe  of  men  must  have  lived  contemporaneously 
with  the  Mammoth,  the  extinct  Rhinoceros,  the  Cave  Bear, 
etc.,  that  is  to  say,  with  animals  which  have  long  since  become 
extinct  and  which,  as  has  already  been  stated,  are  generally 
regarded  as  characteristic  of  a  prehuman  geological  period.* 

These  conclusions,  which  carry  back  the  presence  of  man 
upon  the  earth  to  an  unsuspected  distance  in  the  past,  would 
be  perfectly  justified,  even  if  we  had  no  other  evidence  to  stand 
upon  than  that  furnished  by  the  cave  of  Aurignac.  But 
the  fact  of  the  very  ancient  existence  of  man,  of  his  contem- 
poraneity with  certain  extinct  animals,  (a  proposition  long 
disputed  with  the  greatest  violence,  but  now  perfectly  demon- 
strated), does  not  rest  only  on  the  discovery  at  Aurignac, 
which  is  cited  here  merely  as  a  simple  example  ;    but  similar 

♦See  Appendix  No.  i. 


OUR   ORIGIN.  31 

discoveries  in  proof  of  it  have  been  made  in  nearly  every  part 
of  the  world  —  in  England,  France,  Italy,  Spain,  Germany  and 
Belgium,  nay  even  in  America,  Asia,  Australia,  etc.  Every- 
where the  same  or  very  similar  conditions  have  been  found  to 
prevail, —  every  where  caverns  have  occurred,  in  which  remains 
of  Man  or  indubitable  evidences  of  human  handiwork  are  found 
associated  with  the  remains  of  supposed  prehuman  animals, 
and  in  many  instances  under  circumstances  which,  when  care- 
fully examined,  leave  no  doubt  that  the  men  and  animals 
must  have  been  contemporaries.  From  a  comparatively  early 
date  the  discoveries  of  Schmerling  and  Spring  in  the  numerous 
Belgian  caves  have  been  particularly  celebrated  ;  as  early  as 
1833-34,  Schmerling,  with  perfect  justice,  deduced  from  them 
the  contemporaneity  of  man  with  the  animals  of  the  Diluvial 
period.*  But  in  opposition  to  the  general  prejudices,  his 
testimony  was  wasted  like  that  of  one  preaching  in  the  desert. 
The  same  fate  had  previously  befallen  the  French  naturalists 
Journal  and  Christol,  who,  as  early  as  1828-29,  had  made 
similar  discoveries,  and  drawn  similar  conclusions  from  them, 
in  the  equally  numerous  caves  of  the  South  of  France,  (such  as 
Bize  near  Narbonne,  Gondres  near  Nimes,  etc.);  and  the  as- 
sertions of  the  English  Geologist  Buckland,  in  his  Reliquice 
DiluvianiS,  (1822),  and  of  the  German  palaeontologist  Baron 
von  Schlotheim,  had  met  with  no  better  reception.  The  last 
named  naturalist  had  made  some  discoveries  in  the  years  1820- 
1824  in  the  gypsum  quarries  near  Gera  in  Thuringia.  which  led 
him  also  to  infer  the  contemporaneity  of  man  with  the  Diluvial 
animals.     The  Danish  naturalist  Lund  was  so  much  under  the 

*The  book  in  which  Schmerling;  gave  his  important  observations  to  the  world 
is  entitled:  Recherches  sur  les  ossements /ossiles  dicouverts  dans  Us  cavernes  de 
la  province  de  Liege  {iSjj). 

"It  is  impossible,"  says  Professor  Fuhlrott,  "to  read  his  report  without 
sympathy;  we  feel  with  him  the  difficulty  of  the  task  of  establishing  an  opinion 
which  offends  against  the  firmly  rooted  prejudices  of  the  day.  And  in  fact  neither 
by  the  solidity  of  his  arguments,  nor  by  the  warmth  of  conviction,  with  which  he 
supports  them,  could  he  at  that  time  gain  any  adherents  to  his  opinions." 


32  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

influence  of  this  prejudice,  that  not  even  his  interesting  dis- 
coveries in  the  numerous  bone-caves  of  Brazil,  could  thoroughly 
convince  him  of  its  falsehood.  But  since  this  period  numerous 
and  careful  investigations  of  other  bone-caves  have  been  made, 
especially  in  England,  France  and  Belgium,  (partly  at  the 
expense  of  the  respective  governments  of  these  countries,)  and 
all  have  led  to  the  same  results.  Among  the  Belgian  caves 
the  so-called  Trou  de  Frontal,  situated  in  the  valley  of  the 
Lesse,  is  particularly  worthy  of  mention,  because,  when  it  w^as 
discovered,  it  presented  so  precisely  the  same  character  as  the 
the  cave  of  Aurignac  that  the  two  caverns  might  almost  be 
described  in  the  same  words.  Here  again  the  mouth  of  the 
cave  was  closed  by  a  slab  of  sandstone  ;  within  it  the  remains 
of  fourteen  human  beings  of  small  stature  were  deposited  ; 
whilst  in  front  of  it  there  was  an  esplanade  for  the  funeral 
feasts,  with  its  hearth  and  traces  of  fire  and  with  many  flint- 
knives,  bones  of  animals,  shells,  etc. 

But  all  these  early  discoveries  were  incapable  of  overthrow- 
ing a  scientific  prejudice  which  had  for  so  long  a  period  enjoyed 
an  unrestricted  dominion  over  the  learned  world,  and  indeed,  in 
spite  of  all  evidence  to  the  contrary,  still  maintains  itself  in  great 
force  in  some  scientific  and  in  very  many  non-scientific  circles. 

This  prejudice  consists  in  the  assumption,  that  man  cannot 
have  had  a  more  ancient  existence  upon  the  earth  than  the 
latest  of  known  geological  periods,  namely  that  of  the  so-called 
Alluvium,  which  is  a  deposit  produced  by  the  action  of  our 
existing  rivers  upon  their  banks  and  at  their  mouths. 

The  formation  of  this  deposit  necessarily  presupposes  that, 
when  it  took  place,  the  surface  of  the  earth  was  of  the  same 
form  as  at  the  present  day  ;  the  equilibrium  between  land  and 
water  must  likewise  have  been  the  same,  and  the  same  fauna 
and  flora  must  have  been  in  existence  as  at  present. 

The  existence  of  man  upon  the  earth  was  therefore  believed 


OUR   ORIGIN. 


33 

not  to  date  more  than  a  few  thousand  years  before  the  Christian 
era.  This  prejudice,  sanctified  by  age  and,  as  it  was  supposed, 
supported  by  great  scientific  authority,  had  indeed  been  nour- 
ished and  strengthened  by  many  circumstances,  among  which 
a  principal  part  must  be  ascribed  to  the  numerous  disappoint- 
ments, which  had  been  experienced  with  regard  to  discoveries 
of  supposed  fossil  human  bones,  which  afterwards  turned  out  to 
be  those  of  animals*  and  to  the  asserted  opposition  of  the  great 
anatomist  and  naturalist  Cuvier.f  But  another  circumstance 
may  have  contributed  even  more  than  these  to  the  misappre- 
hension of  the  truth,  and  this  was  that  the  prejudice  in  question 
agreed  remarkably  with  a  widely  diffused  philosophical  opinion, 
which  had  by  degrees  become  the  darling  of  the  general  public. 
According  to  this  opinion,  man,  as  the  final  flower  or  crown  of 
creation,  its  corner-stone  as  it  were,  could  not  have  appeared 

*  See  Appendix  No.  2. 

tCuvier,  who,  by  his  celebrated  work,  the  Redurches  sur  Us  ossements 
fossiles,  (1812),  was  the  first  to  introduce  system  and  order  into  the  previously 
very  imperfect  knowledg^e  of  the  remains  of  a  former  world,  and  whose  immense 
knowledge  certainly  quite  justified  his  undisputed  claim  to  the  leadership  in  this 
field,  has  generally  been  supposed  to  have  declared  the  existence  of  fossil  or  an- 
tediluvian man  to  be  an  impossibility.  But  in  reality  his  authority  has  been  and 
still  is  cited  quite  erroneously  on  this  point.  For,  far  from  expressing  himself 
in  any  such  terms,  Cuvier  only  says  that  no  fossil  or  petrified  men  or  apes  have 
yet  been  found.  Most  certainly  if  Cuvier  were  living  at  present  he  would  have 
taken  his  stand  with  his  weighty  authority  on  the  side  opposed  to  his  opinion  of 
that  time. 

The  affair  is,  however,  so  important  that  I  cannot  abstain  from  giving  here 
Cuvier-s  own  words.  In  his  great  work  Sm-  les  Revolutions  du  Globe  (1S25) 
he  says  expressly  :  "  But  I  will  not  conclude  from  this  (i.  e.,  from  the  fact  that 
as  yet  no  remains  of  man  or  apes  had  been  found),  that  man  did  not  exist  at  all 
before  this  epoch.  He  might  inhabit  some  countries  of  small  extent  from 
whence  he  re-peopled  the  earth  after  these  terrible  occurrences  ;  perhaps  also  the 
places  where  he  dwelt  have  been  entirely  submerged  and  his  bones  buried  at  the 
bottom  of  the  present  seas,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  number  of  individuals 
who  have  continued  the  species." 

It  may  serve  for  the  explanation  of  this  quotation  to  state  that  Cuvier  in  the 
spirit  of  his  time  still  believed  in  isolated,  great  and  universal  revolutions  of  the 
globe  which  however,  in  reality  have  not  taken  place.  It  will  be  seen,  how- 
ever, from  the  quotation,  that  Cuvier's  followers  and  disciples  were  more  ortho 

X  noT  r    "  ''"^  ^'"'"^  ''^"  *'^  -"^^'^^  ^""^^'^-  ^  --  -•^-b  -'^eed 

*stiY  no  means  unfrequent 

/  7 


34  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

upon  this  theatre  of  his  being  until  the  last  and  most  recent 
geological  period,  (the  Alluvium),  and  thus  he  forms  not  only 
the  highest  fulfillment,  but  also  the  final  conclusion  of  all  organic 
creative  activity.  Of  course  this  comfortable  opinion  was  in 
danger  of  being  greatly  diminished  in  value,  or  perhaps  even 
altogether  upset  by  the  investigations  to  which  we  have  referred, 
and  as  the  majority  of  men,  in  their  fondness  for  intelle61ual  re- 
pose and  comfort,  dread  nothing  more  than  the  shaking  of  old 
established  articles  of  faith,  they  prepared  to  fight  against  the 
new  ideas  to  the  very  last  drop  of  their  blood.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed, that  there  was  07ie  circumstance  much  in  favor  of  the 
opponents  of  the  new  doctrine  in  their  struggle  against  the 
fossil  man*  and  the  evidence  derived  from  the  cave-discoveries. 
So  long  as  we  had  only  these  cave-discoveries  to  appeal  to,  it 
was  said:  Granting  the  truth  of  all  these  discoveries  and  their 
results,  how  is  it,  that  we  find  no  human  remains  and  no  traces 
of  human  action  in  the  regular  strata  of  the  period  before  the 
alluvium,  in  deposits  open  to  the  light  of  day?  Why  do  we 
always  meet  with  them  only  in  these  dark  caves  and  grottos, 
where  there  is  always  a  possibility  that  the  remains  of  man  and 
animals  may  have  been  swept  together  by  great  floods  of  water, 
and  where  at  any  rate  the  peculiarity  of  the  conditions,  under 
which  these  remains  are  discovered,  leaves  so  much  enveloped 
in  obscurity  and  mystery? 

But  even  to  these  grave  questions  the  indefatigable  spirit  of 

*  In  using  the  expression  "fossil"  we  must  take  care  to  avoid  the  frequent 
misconception  that  the  idea  of  "  petrifaction  "  is  necessarily  connected  with  it. 
For  although  undoubtedly  many  fossil  objects  are  found  in  a  petrified  state,  tliis 
condition  is  by  no  means  always  their  essential  characteristic.  Even  in  our  times 
organic  bodies  are  petrified  under  favorable  circumstances,  whilst  others  which 
have  lain  much  longer  in  the  earth  do  not  become  petrified.  Moreover  the  word 
"fossil"  itself  (derived  from  the  Latin  ^^/ossilis")  by  no  means  signifies  a 
petrified  object,  but  only  something ///a/ /'.f  dugout  of  the  depths  cf  the  earth. 
According  to  Professor  Pictet  of  Geneva,  the  word  is  applicable  to  all  organic 
remains  which  lie  buried  in  those  strata  of  the  earth  which  have  been  formed 
under  certain  conditions  different  from  those  of  the  present  day.  Therefore  in 
order  that  organic  remains  should  be  recognized  as  fossil,  they  must  belong  to  a 
period  which  preceded  the  present  state  of  things  on  the  surface  of  the  earth. 


OUR    ORIGIN.  35 

investigation  has  found  an  answer.  And  here  we  might  narrate 
the  touching  history  of  a  man  who,  for  twenty  long  years,  in 
spite  of  misapprehension  and  scorn,  contended  in  vain  against 
the  great  prejudice  in  favor  of  the  late  appearance  of  the  human 
race  upon  the  earth,  until  finally  he  was  rewarded  by  victory 
and  general  appreciation.  We  refer  to  the  celebrated  French 
antiquary  and  discoverer  of  antediluvian  flint  axes,  Boucher  de 
Perthes,  of  Abbeville  on  the  Somme. 

The  Somme,  as  is  well  known,  is  a  river  of  the  North  of 
France,  (in  Picardy),  and  falls  into  the  English  Channel.  In 
the  greater  part  of  its  course  it  runs  through  a  district  of  white 
chalk,  partly  covered  with  Tertiary  deposits.  Above  these 
Tertiary  strata  there  are  great  beds  of  rolled  pebbles,  sand, 
gravel  and  loam,  belonging  to  the  Diluvial  period  which  we 
have  already  so  frequently  mentioned.  In  the  vicinity  of  the 
towns  of  Amiens  and  Abbeville  these  beds  were  laid  bare  to  a 
considerable  extent,  partly  by  the  formation  of  great  gravel  pits 
and  fortifications,  and  partly,  in  more  recent  times,  (1830  to 
1840),  by  the  construction  of  a  canal  and  railway.  Years  ago 
the  bones  of  diluvial  and  extinct  animals,  (such  as  Elephants, 
Rhinoceroses,  Bears,  Hyenas,  Deer,  etc.),  had  been  found  in 
these  diluvial  deposits  at  a  depth  of  20  to  30  feet  and  close  to 
the  underlying  chalk;  these  were  sent  to  Cuvier  in  Paris,  who 
determined  and  described  them.  And  it  was  here  and  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  places  that  Boucher  de  Perthes  found  those 
famous  flint  axes  of  the  rudest  form,  which  have  given  a  totally 
diflferent  aspect  to  the  whole  question  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
human  race  upon  the  earth.  Boucher  de  Perthes  had  seen, 
(probably  in  1805  and  1810),  certain  worked  flints  in  Italian 
caves  and  was  led  to  ascribe  to  them  a  high  antiquity  on  account 
of  their  peculiar  coloration.  His  archaeological  knowledge 
enabled  him  to  distinguish  these  flint  axes  from  the  so-called 
celts — the  polished  stone  weapons  of  a  much  latter  date — which 
have  been  found  in  a  great  many  places  and  may  be  seen  in 


36       MAN  IN  THE  PAST,  PRESENT,  AND  FUTURE. 

abundance  in  every  collection  of  antiquities.  In  the  year  1838, 
Boucher  de  Perthes  first  exhibited  the  flint  axes  found  by  him 
to  the  scientific  Society  of  Amiens,  but  without  any  result. 
With  equal  want  of  success  he  took  them  to  Paris  in  1839.  In 
1 841  he  began  to  form  his  collection,  which  has  since  become 
so  celebrated.  In  1847  he  published  his  Antiquites  antedibi- 
viennes,  but  even  this  work  attradied  no  attention,  until,  in 
1854,  a  French  savant  named  RigoUot,  who  had  long  been  a 
determined  opponent  of  Boucher  de  Perthes'  views,  became 
convinced  of  the  correctness  of  his  statements  by  personal 
examination,  and  then  made  a  successful  search  for  these  flint 
implements  in  the  neighborhood  of  Amiens.  He  was  soon 
followed  by  others,  especially  Englishmen,  among  whom  were 
the  celebrated  geologist.  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  (in  whose  presence 
during  two  visits  to  the  locality  no  fewer  than  seventy  flint 
hatchets  were  turned  out),  Mr.  Prestwich,  M.  A.  Gaudry  and 
others. 

Scientific  men  soon  assembled  in  the  valley  of  the  Somme 
from  all  quarters,  and  all  those  who  came  and  examined  for 
themselves  went  away  converted  to  the  new  opinions.  Of 
course,  as  might  be  expected,  objections  of  all  kinds  were 
raised.  Some  declared,  that  the  hatchets  had  been  thrown  out 
of  a  volcano;  others  that  they  were  natural  products  of  the  ac- 
tion of  water  or  frost.  Others  again,  without  venturing  to  deny 
their  artificial  origin,  maintained  that  they  had  reached  the 
depth,  at  which  they  lay,  either  by  a  gradual  sinking  caused 
by  their  own  weight  or  Vjy  filling  into  fissures  of  the  soil. 
However,  all  these  objections  were  soon  shown  to  be  unten- 
able. Commissions  of  scientific  men,  including  the  most  cele- 
brated names  of  England  and  France  among  their  members, 
assembled  repeatedly  to  investigate  the  matter,  and  the  general 
result  of  their  examinations  was  expressed  in  the  following  im- 
portant statements: 
I.  The  flint  hatchets  are  undoubtedly  the  work  of  human  hands; 


OUR    ORIGIN.  37 

2.  They  lie  in  virgin  or  undisturbed  deposits  of  the  Diluvial 
age,  which  have  not  undergone  any  alteration  or  reconstruction 
by  natural  phenomena  since  their  original  deposition,  and  there- 
fore in  deposits  the  formation  of  which  presupposes  a  structure 
of  the  surface  of  the  earth  essentially  different  from  that  which 
now  exists; 

3.  They  occur  associated  with  remains  of  fossil  animals  now 
entirely  extinct ;  and  they  prove  that  the  antiquity  of  man  upon 
the  earth  reaches  far  beyond  all  historic  titnes  and  indeed  far 
beyond  all  tradition.^ 

These  flint  axes  have  been  found  in  such  abundance  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Somnie,  that  their  number,  several  years  ago, 
must  have  been  some  thousands,  not  to  mention  the  innumerable 
chips,  flakes  and  imperfect  specimens  that  have  been  met  with. 

Manufactured  from  the  flint-nodules  so  abundant  in  the  white 
chalk  of  France,  these  implements  represent  the  first  and  lowest 
stage  of  human  industry.  They  were  produced  merely  by 
knocking  together  the  flint-nodules,  which,  when  thus  treated, 
split  up  with  a  sharp,  conchoidal,  (or  shell-like),  fracture. 
Flint,  hard  as  it  is,  is  in  lact  very  easy  to  split,  especially  when 
it  is  operated  on  in  a  fresh  state  with  its  pit-moisture  still  in  it, 
or  when  it  has  been  soaked  for  a  good  while  in  water.  When 
the  nodules  had  been  split  up  roughly,  the  fragments  were 
worked  at  with  little  taps  until  they  attained  a  useful  form,  and 
then  the  instrument  was  complete.  That  this  was  the  process 
really  adopted,  and  that  it  effects  the  desired  purpose,  has  been 
proved  by  experiment. 

*  Carl  Vogt  expresses  himself  in  the  same  way  in  his  Vorlesungen  iiber  den 
Menschen, —  At  p.  52  of  his  first  volume  he  says  :  "  It  is  now  incontestably  proved, 
that  these  flint  weapons  could  only  have  been  fabricated  by  man,  that  they  owe 
their  existence  to  no  other  natural  cause,  that  they  lie  in  great  quantities  in  beds 
which  have  never  been  disturbed  or  moved  since  their  first  deposition,  and  that 
they  undoubtedly  belonj^  to  the  same  period  as  iill  the  extinct  animals  that  I  have 
already  mentioned."— And  A.  Laugel  in  his  L'/iomrne  anteJiluvien  says:  "The 
greatest  skeptics  now  admit,  that  the  stones  found  in  such  considerable  number* 
by  Boucher  de  Perthes  are  indebted  to  the  hand  of  man  for  their  peculiar  form 
and  their  sharp  edges." 


38  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

In  these  rudest  forms  of  flint  implements  we  find  no  trace  of 
any  finishing  process;  they  are  neither  pohshed,  ground,  nor 
ornamented  in  the  same  manner  usual  with  stone  weapons  of  a 
latter  date.*  Nor  do  we  find  in  them  a  hole  for  the  handle  or 
an  external  excavation  or  contracted  part  for  reception  in  a  haft 
embracing  the  stone  on  the  outside.  These  flint  axes  were 
either  held  in  the  hand  itself  or  merely  stuck  into  a  piece  of 
wood,  as  is  done  to  the  present  day  by  many  savage  people, 

*  In  prehistoric  times  flint  was  the  most  sought  for  and  indeed  almost  the  only 
material  that  was  worked  in  Europe,  and  it  has  exerted  a  much  more  powerful 
influence  upon  the  course  of  civilization  than  is  commonly  supposed,  as  for  a  long 
time  the  articles  manufactured  from  it  were  the  only  implements  that  man  could 
produce.  Even  now,  savage  tribes  are  anxious  to  obtain  it,  partly  on  account  of 
its  hardness,  partly  on  account  of  its  mode  of  fracture  and  the  readiness  with 
which  it  is  worked  in  consequence. —  If  one  strikes  strongly  with  a  round  hammer 
upon  the  smooth  surface  of  a  flint-nodule,  a  conical  fracture  spreading  through 
the  whole  mass  of  the  nodule  is  produced  ;  whilst,  if  one  strikes  upon  a  projecting 
angle  of  the  nodule,  fragments  split  off  which  have  rather  a  half-conical,  flat  and 
knife  like  form.  When  the  four  projecting  angles  of  an  angular  flint-nodule  have 
been  cut  off  in  this  manner,  the  same  process  can  be  repeated  with  the  eight  angles 
then  formed,  and  so  on,  until  at  last  an  axe-like  nucleus  is  left.  Of  course  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  practice  and  dexterity  is  required  for  this  purpose,  as  also  care  in 
the  selection  of  the  pieces  for  working. — A  flint-fragment  worked  in  this  manner 
is,  according  to  Sir  John  Lubbock,  as  sure  a  proof  to  the  Archaeologist  of  the 
presence  of  man,  as  the  traces  of  human  footsteps  in  the  sand  were  for  Robinson 
Crusoe. 

The  flints  served  sometimes  as  weapons,  sometimes  as  nnplemenis.  The 
former  purpose  was  fulfilled  especially  by  the  larger  fragments  or  true  axes; 
whilst  the  smaller  fragments  and  chips  were  employed  as  knives,  saws,  awls, 
arrowheads  and  lance-heads,  etc.  Even  to  the  present  day  by  means  of  the  same 
or  similar  stone-implements  assisted  by  fire,  our  existing  savages  fell  trees  and 
hollow  them  into  boats,  and  also  fight  with  each  other.  In  the  year  1809  an  old 
stone-grave,  ascribed  by  tradition  to  King  Aldus  McGaldus,  was  opened  in  Scot- 
land. There  was  found  in  it  the  very  brittle  skeleton  of  a  man  of  very  large 
stature,  one  arm  of  which  was  nearly  separated  from  the  trunk  by  a  blow  with  a 
Stone  axe.  A  fragment  of  the  axe  was  broken  off  and  remained  wedged  into  the 
bone. 

The  stone  itself  was  diorile, —  a  rock  which  does  not  occur  in  Scotland.  ■  Other 
stone-implements,  some  of  them  polished,  were  also  found  in  the  grave,  but  no 
trace  of  metal. 

In  latter  times  the  working  of  flint  advanced,  and  we  find  all  kinds  of 
axes,  knives,  arrow,  and  lance-heads,  daggers,  saws,  etc.,  of  this  and  similar 
materials.  (From  an  Essay  by  Sir  John  Lubbock  in  the  Revue  Littiraire, 
1865-66,  No.  I.) 


OUR   ORIGIN.  39 

who  usually  wedge  their  stone  weapons  into  the  cleft  branches 
of  trees  and  endeavor  to  fix  them  firmly  by  tight  binding  above 
and  below  the  stone. 

At  the  places  where  these  flint  axes  were  found  in  the  Valley 
of  the  Somme,  no  other  traces  of  human  handiwork  were  met 
with,  not  one  of  those  articles  made  of  horn,  bone,  shell,  etc., 
which  have  been  so  frequently  found  in  deposits  of  later  date, 
and  in  the  numerous  ossiferous  caves  especially  have  scarcely 
ever  been  missed.  From  this  we  may  conclude  that  the  ob- 
jedls  found  in  the  Valley  of  the  Somme  are  certainly  more 
ancient  than  the  cave  of  Aurignac,  which  has  already  been  de- 
scribed, and  in  which  there  was  a  great  collection  of  articles 
made  of  bone  and  horn,  together  with  flint  knives,  which  also 
indicate  a  later  stage  of  civilization. 

We  may  therefore  regard  the  flint  axes  of  the  Valley  of  the 
Somme,  commonly  known  to  archaeologists  from  the  special 
localities  where  they  are  found,  as  stone  implements  of  the 
Amiens,  or  of  the  Abbeville -type,  as  the  earliest  known  trace  of 
human  industry,  or  as  indicating  the  first  and  rudest  beginning 
of  the  arts  of  civilization.  As  representing  such  a  commence- 
ment as  this,  these  objects,  notwithstanding  their  simplicity  and 
roughness,  possess  the  highest  significance,  and  must  excite  our 
deepest  interest.  For  they  show  us  with  what  rude  and  primi- 
tive steps  man  must  have  commenced  his  long  and  weary  march 
towards  civilization,  and  how  poor  and  insignificant  were  the 
first  beginnings  of  a  culture  which  has  since  yielded  such  grand 
and  noble  results.  They  furnish  us  with  the  best  guide  to  the 
recognition  of  the  great  fundamental  law  of  nature  and  of  man, 
according  to  which  every  thing  great  and  admirable  that  man 
or  the  universe  can  yield  or  possess,  is  not  a  gratuitous  gift 
fi-om  above,  but  only  attained  by  slow  and  laborious  develop- 
ment from  simple  and  rude  beginnings,  by  gradual  evolution 
of  the  powers  and  faculties  slumbering  in  nature  and  in  man. 


40  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

^''Evolution  is  henceforward  the  s;)ell  by  means  of  which  we 
may  solve  all  the  mysteries  surrounding  us,  or  at  least  put  our- 
selves in  the  way  of  solving  them."  {Hacckei,  Ahtiirlic/ie 
Schopfungsgeschichte,  Berlin,  1868.) 

To  use  the  words  of  the  celebrated  discoverer  of  the  flint 
axes,  Boucher  de  Perthes,  in  his  well  known  memoir,  De 
r Homme  ayitediluvicn,  (Paris,  i860):  "  Let  us  not  then  disdain 
these  first  essays  of  our  forefathers;  if  they  had  not  made  them, 
if  they  had  not  persevered  in  their  efforts,  we  should  have 
neither  our  towns  nor  palaces,  nor  any  of  those  masterpieces 
which  we  admire  in  them.  The  first  man  who  struck  one 
pebble  against  another  to  give  it  a  more  regular  form,  gave  the 
first  blow  of  the  chisel  v/hich  produced  the  Miner\'a  and  all  the 
marbles  of  the  Parthenon." 

We  must  not,  however,  omit  remarking,  that  the  Valley  of 
the  Somme  is  no  longer  the  only  place  where  rude  flint  imple- 
ments of  the  character  just  described  have  been  found.  Since 
these  a.xes  and  their  appearance  have  become  so  well  known, 
and  general  attention  has  been  called  to  them,  they  have  been 
found  in  many  other  parts  of  France,  and  especially  in  the  Valley 
of  the  Seine,  where  their  occurrence  in  the  lowest  Diluvial  de- 
posits, associated  with  the  bones  of  Diluvial  animals,  was  very 
accurately  ascertained  by  Gosse.  And  they  have  been  dis- 
covered not  only  in  France,  but  in  many  other  parts  of  Europe, 
Asia,  America,  etc.,  and  in  all  cases  in  the  same  Quaternary  or 
Diluvial  deposits,  in  company  with  bones  of  the  same  extinct 
animals  to  which  reference  has  already  so  frequently  been  made, 
and,  singularly  enough,  with  the  same  absence  of  all  products 
of  a  more  advanced  state  of  civilization.  It  must  not  be  sup- 
posed, however,  that  we  merely  find  single  bones  of  the  animals 
mixed  with  the  products  of  htmian  industry,  but  sometimes  the 
bones  of  entire  limbs  or  other  parts  of  the  body  are  met  with 
in  their  normal  position  in  the  gravel-beds  which  contain  the 
axes,  (Baillon),  so  that  the  idea  of  subsequent  intermixture  or 


,  OUR   ORIGIN.  41 

sweeping  together  by  water  is  at  once  excluded.  A  very  con- 
vincir.g"  discovery  of  this  kind  was  made  on  the  banks  of  the 
Manzanares,  near  Madrid,  by  Casiano  de  Prado.  In  1845  to 
1850,  a  large  portion  of  the  skeleton  of  a  Rhinoceros  was  found 
in  the  diluvial  sand  occurring  there,  and  soon  afterwards  a  nearly 
perfect  skeleton  of  an  Elephant.  In  a  bed  of  rolled  pebbles 
lying  beneath  this  ossiferous  Diluvial  sand  several  flint  axes  of 
human  workmanship  were  discovered.  According  to  Carl 
Vogt,  {^Archiv  fur  Anthropologic,  1866,  Part  I.),  this  discovery 
removes  all  doubt. 

The  flint  axes  have  hitherto  been  found  most  abundantly  in 
old  river- valleys  in  England  and  France,  and  in  England  also, 
on  some  parts  of  the  coast.  Their  number,  which  was  at  first 
small,  has  gradually  become  so  considerable,  that  Sir  John 
Lubbock  estimates  at  more  than  three  thousand  the  flint  im- 
plements of  the  earliest  stone-age  or  the  palaeolithic  period,  as 
he  calls  it,  which  have  been  exhumed  in  the  north  of  France 
and  the  south  of  England  alone.  None  of  these  utensils  are 
ground  or  polished,  and  they  are  nowhere  associated  with 
worked  metals  or  pottery,  or  with  objects  made  of  bone,  horn,, 
etc.  From  an  historiciil  point  of  view  it  is  certainly  worthy  of 
notice,  that,  as  soon  as  the  discoveries  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Somme  were  made  known,  people  remembered  that  in  Eng- 
land, as  long  ago  as  the  year  1797,  these  same  flint  axes  had 
been  dug  out  in  great  numbers  from  a  brickfield  near  Hoxne,  in 
the  county  of  Suffolk,  where  they  occurred  at  a  depth  of  twelve 
feet  in  company  with  the  bones  of  extinct  animals.  As  no  one 
knew  what  to  make  of  them  they  were  thrown  by  baskets-full 
upon  the  neighboring  road.  The  English  Antiquary,  John 
Frere,  had  noticed  them,  however,  and  in  the  year  1801  he 
read  a  paper  upon  them  at  a  Meeting  of  the  Society  of  the  An- 
tiquaries, but  the  matter  was  not  regarded  as  of  any  importance. 
Nevertheless  Frere  even  then  remarked  quite  justly,  that  the 
discovery  pointed  to  a  very  remote  and  indeed  to  an  ante- 


42  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

diluvian  period.  Short  as  his  communication  is,  it  contains 
the  essence  of  all  subsequent  discoveries  and  speculations  as  to 
the  antiquity  of  the  human  race. 

Even  before  this  time,  in  the  year  17 15,  one  of  these  flint  in- 
struments of  the  most  ancient  kind  had  been  exhumed,  in  com- 
pany with  Elephants'  bones,  from  the  gravel  of  London ;  but 
people  were  then  in  a  less  favorable  position  than  at  the  later 
period  to  draw  definite  conclusions  from  this  circumstance.* 

The  great  resemblance  that  prevails  throughout  all  these 
axes  found  in  England  and  France  is  very  remarkable,  and  is 
so  great  that  the  workmen  in  the  gravel-pits  where  they  occur 
have  given  them  the  general  name  of 'Va/'j-  tongues.'"  This 
circumstance  may  be  partly  explained,  if  we  consider  that  at 
the  time  of  the  deposition  of  the  diluvium,  England  and  France 
were  not  yet  separated  by  the  Channel ;  they  were  then  direct- 
ly united  by  land,  so  that  reciprocal  communication  between 
the  inhabitants  of  the  two  countries  was  very  easy. 

Lastly,  in  connection  with  this,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind, 
that  the  cave-discoveries  have  also  furnished  an  abundant  sup- 
ply of  rude  stone-implements,  although  these  are  in  part  of  a 
different  character  and  generally  belong  to  a  rather  later  date. 

So  much  for  the  flint  axes  of  the  Diluvial  period,  of  which 
such  numerous  and  remarkable  specimens  are  now  to  be  seen 
in  the  Museums  of  London,  Paris  and  elsewhere.     An  attempt 

*  At  a  still  earlier  period  people  had  so  little  notion  of  the  nature  and  signifi- 
cance of  the  stone  axes  and  weapons  of  earlier  and  later  times  that  they  were 
regarded  with  superstitious  fear  and  hope  and  as  productions  of  lightning  or 
thunder.  Hence  for  a  long  time  they  were  called  thunderbolts  (ceramia)  even  by 
the  learned,  and  popularly,  in  common  with  some  fossil  remains  of  animals,  they 
still  bear  this  name.  "  Albinus  (in  kis  Meissener  Land-  und  Berg-Clironik)  says, 
that  the  thunder  throws  down  these  stones,  and  Happelius  Kleine  Weltbeschreib- 
ung  describes  their  production  from  the  vapors  in  the  atmosphere  as  pleasantly 
as  if  he  had  himself  been  a  witness  of  it.  As  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century  (1734)  when  Mahndel  explained  in  the  Academy  of  Pans  that  these  stones 
were  human  implements,  he  was  laughed  at,  because  he  had  not  proved  that  they 
could  not  have  been  formed  in  the  clouds.  Even  at  the  present  day  they  are 
reverenced  and  carried  about  by  the  common  people  as  talismans,  love-charms, 
etc." —  (Schleiden.) 


OUR    ORIGIN.  43 

has  been  made  to  weaken  the  force  of  their  evidence  as  to  the 
high  antiquity  of  the  human  race  by  raising  the  following  ques- 
tion :  Why  do  we  not  find  associated  with  these  axes  other 
human  remains,  especially  human  bones,  seeing  that  plenty  of 
bones  of  animals  are  to  be  found  with  them  ?  This  point  was 
seized  upon  with  avidity  by  the  numerous  opponents  of  the 
new  doctrine  and  has,  in  fact,  given  rise  to  much  doubt.  The 
explanation  of  this  obscure  matter  given  by  Lyell,  in  his  work 
upon  the  Antiquity  of  Man,  is  exceedingly  ingenious  and,  as  it 
appears  to  us,  perfectly  satisfactory.  But  this  explanation  has 
become  unnecessary  since  Boucher  de  Perthes,  the  original 
discoverer  of  the  flint  axes,  succeeded  in  satisfying  even  this 
requirement.  On  March  28,  181 3,  Boucher  de  Perthes  took 
with  his  own  hands  from  a  gravel  pit  at  Abbeville,  in  which 
the  axes  had  been  found,  and  from  a  great  depth  in  it,  and 
close  to  the  subjacent  chalk,  a  human  lower  jaw,  the  same 
which  has  since  become  so  celebrated  as  the  jaw  of  Moulin 
Quignon. 

This  is  now  in  the  Anthropological  Museum  at  Paris.  It  is 
of  a  very  dark,  blue-black  color,  and  in  its  conformation  shows 
some  tendency  towards  an  animal  character.  Some  objedlions 
to  the  genuineness  of  the  jaw  were  made,  especially  by  the 
English  savants,  who  were  perhaps  a  little  jealous  of  the  French 
discoveries,  and  these  led  to  long  discussions  in  the  scientific 
world.  But  on  May  13,  1863,  an  international  scientific  com- 
mission decided  that  the  jaw  was  genuine,  that  it  had  not  only 
lain  where  it  was  discovered,  but  that  it  was  actually  contem- 
poraneous with  the  diluvial  flint  axes.* 

*  The  details  of  this  discussion  will  be  found  in  the  Procls-Verbaux  des  Seances 
du  Congrhs  reiini  a  Paris  et  a  Abbeville  sous  la  pristdence  de  M.  le  Pro/esseur 
Milne-Edwards,  etc.,  printed  in  Paris.  The  French  savants  Quatrefages  and 
Broca,  also  express  themselves  in  the  same  way.  In  his  report  on  the  labors  of 
the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris  for  the  year  1863,  the  latter  says  : — "  All  this 
has  convinced  you  of  the  authenticity  of  this  fossil  jaw  of  Moulin-Quignon," — and 
Quatrefages  says,  in  his  Anthropological  Lectures  for  the  year  1865: — "The 
qucGtio:;  of  the  authenticity  of  the  discovery  at  Moulin-Qulgnon  is  fully  solved. 
No  one  auy  longer  doubts  this  authenticity,  unless  it  be  in  England." 


44  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

Until  July  i6,  1869,  this  interesting  discovery  remained  an 
isolated  fact.  But  on  that  day  Boucher  de  Perthes  found  a 
number  of  human  bones  presenting  the  same  character  as  the 
jaw,  and  amongst  these  was  a  skull  of  a  very  low  type.  These 
were  found  not  far  from  the  locality  of  the  first  discovery,  under 
the  same  circumstances,  and  at  a  depth  in  the  ground  of  three 
metres  (about  ten  feet). 

These,  however,  are  not  the  only  fossil  human  bones  which 
have  been  found  out  of  caves.  In  his  celebrated  book  on  the 
Antiquity  of  Man,  Sir  Charles  Lyell  enumerates  several  cases, 
some  of  them  of  comparatively  early  date,  such  as  the  fossil 
Man  of  Denise,  discovered  by  Dr.  Aymard  in  1844,  whose 
remains  were  found  enclosed  in  the  old  volcanic  tuff  of  a  long 
extinct  volcano  of  Central  France,  (Auvergne).  The  man  to 
whom  these  remains  belonged  must  have  lived  when  the  vol- 
canoes were  still  in  activity ;  and  that  this  activity  pertains  to  a 
long-past  geological  period,  is  proved  by  the  circumstance  that 
the  remains  of  the  Cave  Hyena  and  Hippopotamus  have  been 
met  with  in  similar  blocks  of  tuff  in  the  same  region.  Sir 
Charles  also  notices  the  human  fossil  of  Natchez  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, which  was  found  in  the  so-called  Mammoth  fissure, 
associated  with  bones  of  Mastodon  and  Megalonyx,  (animals 
long  since  extinct  and  belonging  to  a  past  geological  period). 
Further,  a  human  skeleton  found  in  1823,  by  Ami  Boue,*  near 
Lahr  in  Baden,  (opposite  Strasbourg),  in  the  so-called  Loess 
of  the  Rhine  valley,  (a  product  of  the  glacial  period),  and  the 
human  jaw  from  the  Loess  near  Maestricht,  (in  HoUerd),  which 
was  found  during  the  construdlion  of  a  canal,  (1815  to  1823), 
together  with  the  bones  of  extinct  animals,  and  is  now  preserved 
in  the  Museum  at  Leyden.  All  these  bones  were  discovered 
under  such  circumstances  and  in  such  a  condition  that,  if  they 
had  only  been  the  bones  of  animals,  no  one  would  have  thought 
of  doubting  their  being  fossils.     But  as  they  were  human  bones, 

*  See  Appendix  No.  3. 


OUR    ORIGIN.  45 

doubt  seemed  to  be  perfe6lly  legitimate  so  long  as  the  old 
general  prejudice  still  existed.  Now,  however,  Sir  Charles 
Lyell,  who  has  seen  and  examined  them  all,  declares  them  to 
be  decidedly  fossils,  that  is  to  say,  belonging  to  a  different 
geological  period  from  that  in  which  we  live.  Sir  Charles 
comes  to  the  same  conclusion  with  regard  to  the  skeleton  of 
the  celebrated  Neanderthal  man,*  found  in  1856,  in  a  limestone 

*  The  details  of  this  remarkable  discovery,  which  attracted  so  much  attention, 
may  be  found  in  Professor  Schaaff hausen's  memoir,  Zur  Kenntniss  der  dltesten 
Rassenschddel,  as  also  in  an  essay  by  Professor  C.  Fuhlrott,  entitled  :  The  fossil 
man  from  the  Neanderthal  aftd  his  relations  to  the  antiquity  of  the  Human  Race^ 
(Duisburg,  1S65.)  The  last  mentioned  author,  who  was  also  the  first  investigator 
and  describer  of  these  remarkable  bones,  says:  "The  position  and  general 
arrangement  of  the  locality  in  which  they  were  found,  of  which  I  published  a 
description  at  the  time,  place  it  in  my  judgment  beyond  doubt,  that  the  bones 
belong  to  the  Diluvium  and  therefore  to  primitive  times,  i.  e.,  they  come  down  to 
us  from  a  period  of  the  past  when  our  native  country  was  still  inhabited  by  various 
kinds  of  animals,  especially  Mammoths  and  Cave-bears,  which  have  long  since 
disappeared  out  of  the  series  of  living  creatures."  The  human  bones  discovered 
agree  in  all  essential  respects  with  the  fossil  remains  of  antediluvian  animals  which 
were  brought  to  light  under  perfectly  analogous  circumstances  from  other  caverns 
and  fissures  of  the  same  limestone  range  and  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  and  they 
possess  properties  which  plead  in  favor  of  a  high  antiquity  for  them.  The  whole 
of  the  bones,  but  especially  the  cranium,  are  characterized  by  their  uncommon 
thickness  and  by  the  very  strong  development  of  all  tubercles,  crests  and  ridges 
which  serve  for  the  attachment  of  muscles,  a  peculiarity  such  as  is  usually  observed 
in  the  bones  of  savage  and  very  muscular  men  (and  animals.)  We  shall  refer 
hereafter  to  the  very  peculiarly  formed  skull  of  the  Neanderthal  man. 

The  fossil  state  of  the  Neanderthal  skeleton  is  still  further  strongly  confirmed 
by  the  discovery  in  the  summer  of  1865  of  numerous  fossil  bones  and  teeth  of 
animals  (Rhinoceros,  Cave-Bear,  Cave-Hyena,  etc.,)  in  the  loam-deposit  of  the 
so-called  Teufelskammer,  a  cavern  situated  only  130  paces  distant  from  the  Feld- 
hofner  Cave  (in  which  the  Neanderthal  man  was  found)  and  on  the  same  side  of 
the  Neanderthal.  According  to  the  report  upon  this  discovery  given  by  Professor 
Schaaffhausen  to  the  Natural  History  Society  of  the  Lower  Rhine  and  published  in 
the  Kolnische  Zeitung,  of  April  i,  1866,  a  great  part  of  these  bones,  especially  those 
of  the  Cave-Bears,  agree  in  color,  weight,  density  and  the  preservation  of  their 
microscopic  structure  with  the  human  bones  found  in  the  Feldhofner  Cave,  and 
both  are  covered  with  the  same  dendrites  or  tree-like  markings. 

Finally  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  loam-deposit  which  partly  fills  the  caves  of 
the  Neanderthal  and  the  clefts  and  fissures  of  its  limestone  mountains,  and  in 
which  both  the  Neanderthal  bones  and  the  fossil  bones  and  teeth  of  animals  were 
imbedded,  is  exactly  the  same  that,  in  the  caverns  of  the  Neanderthal,  covers  the 
whole  limestone  mountain  with  a  deposit  from  10  to  12  feet  in  thickness,  and  the 
diluvial  origin  of  which  is  unmistakable.  (See,  for  details,  the  essay  of  Fuhlrott 
already  cited.) 


46  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

cavern  in  the  valley  of  the  Neander,  near  Di'isseldorf.  To  this 
we  shall  have  to  refer  in  more  detail  hereafter,  on  account  of  the 
peculiar  interest  which  it  possesses  in  conne6lion  with  the  primi- 
tive history  of  man.  Since  Sir  Charles  wrote,  a  whole  series  of 
discoveries  of  human  bones,  in  caves  and  elsewhere,  have  been 
made.  In  their  texture  and  mode  of  deposition  all  these  re- 
mains possess  more  or  less  of  the  same  significance  as  those 
already  referred  to,  and  have  a  similar  claim  to  be  regarded  as 
fossil,  but  their  enumeration  here  would  detain  us  too  long.* 
Many  of  them,  however,  will  be  mentioned  more  particularly  in 
connection  with  other  matters. 

*  I  refer  here  to  the  discoveries  (not  mentioned  by  Lyell)  of  human  bones  in  the 
caves  of  L'honibrive  and  L'herni,  which  are  described  more  particularly  by  Carl 
Vogt  in  his  Lectures  on  Man,  (Giessen,  1863,)  and  which  justify  the  conclusion, 
that  7nan  tnust  have  lived  contempora7ieously  with  the  extinct  cave-animals ;  to 
the  human  bones  discovered  by  Lartet  and  Christy  in  the  cave  of  Les  Eyzies, 
(Perigord),  probably  belonging  to  the  period  of  the  Mammoth  ;  to  the  human 
lower  jaw  found  by  the  Marquis  de  Vibraye  in  the  grotto  of  Arcy  in  Burgundy ; 
to  the  extremely  animal  human  jaw  of  the  Mammoth  period  found  in  the  cave  of 
La  Naulette  in  Belgium,  and  to  the  flint  axes  of  the  diluvium,  as  well  as  to  numer- 
ous analogous  discoveries  made  in  many  bone-caves  in  France,  Belgium,  England, 
Germany  and  other  places.  Everywhere  human  remains  or  productions  were 
found  together  with  the  bones  of  primeval,  extinct  or  displaced  animals  under 
conditions  which  exclude  the  idea  of  subsequent  fortuitous  admixture.  Among 
the  discoveries  of  human  bones  outside  the  caverns  we  may  also  cite:  The  teeth 
described  by  Jaeger  and  Quenstedt  from  the  Bohnerz  of  Wurtenberg, —  the 
human  teeth  found  in  an  ancient  travertine  near  Rome  upon  which  Ponzi  has  re* 
ported, —  the  human  skull  in  the  Natural  History  Museum  at  Stuttgart,  which 
was  dug  out  in  1700  from  the  calcareous  tuff  of  Canstatt  in  company  with  bones 
of  the  Mammoth,  and  which  resembles  the  Neanderthal  skull  in  its  low,  narrow 
forehead  and  strong  superciliary  arches;  the  fossil  human  jaw  from  the  gravel- 
pits  of  Ipswich  in  Suffolk,  which  was  exhibited  to  the  Ethnological  Society  of 
London  in  April,  1865,  and  which,  besides  its  very  low  structure  and  the  great 
amount  of  iron  contained  in  it,  exhibited  all  the  characters  of  very  high  antiquity  ; 
the  remains  of  a  human  skull  found  quite  recently  by  Professor  Cocchi  in  the 
valley  of  the  Arno  near  Florence  in  diluvial  clay,  together  with  various  bones  of 
extinct  species  of  animals,  and  which,  according  to  Carl  Vogt,  are  of  like  antiquity 
with  the  Engis  and  Neanderthal  skulls ;  the  human  bones  which  A.  Issel  states 
that  he  found  in  Pliocene  deposits  (therefore  belonging  to  the  Tertiary  period) 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  town  of  Savona  in  Liguria,  (the  find  of  Colle  del 
Vento),  and  which  bear  all  the  physical  signs  of  very  high  antiquity,  and  others. 
These  and  a  number  of  similar  discoveries  of  various  dates  require,  however,  a 
more  accurate  testing  and  establishment  by  scientific  authorities,  before  they  can 
be  employed  as  satisfactory  scientific  evidence. 


OUR    ORIGIN.  47 

But  even  now  we  have  by  no  means  exhausted  the  proofs  of 
the  high  antiquity  of  the  human  race  upon  the  earth.  There  is 
still  a  f/iird  series  of  proofs,  (which,  however,  must  be  passed 
over  here  in  a  very  rapid  sketch),  and  for  these  we  are  almost 
exclusively  indebted  to  the  celebrated  and  indefatigable  French 
palaeontologist,  E.  Lartet.  Although  the  geologist,  who  pays 
attention  only  to  the  position  of  the  strata  and  the  possibility  of 
their  having  undergone  disturbances  after  their  original  deposi- 
tion, may  still  perhaps  entertain  some  doubt  upon  the  subjedl,* 
this  evidence  can  leave  no  doubt  on  the  mind  of  the  zoologist 
and  palaeontologist  as  to  the  contemporaneity  of  man  and  the 
Diluvial  animals.  T/ie  proofs  in  question  consist  in  the  traces 
of  the  aRion  of  man  tipon  the  bones  of  extinct  animals.  Even 
before  Lartet,  such  things  were  known.  Thus  in  Sweden  and 
Iceland  signs  of  wounds  made  by  the  hand  of  man  during  the 
life  of  the  animals  had  been  found  upon  the  osseous  remains  of 
an  Auroch,  {Bos  priscus),  and  of  an  Irish-Deer,  and  the  same 
fa6t  is  said  to  have  been  observed  in  America  upon  injured  bones 
of  the  Mastodon.  But  our  first  accurate  and  certain  knowledge 
upon  this  point  was  furnished  by  Lartet,  who  has  made  the 
subje6l  his  special  study.  He  indicates,  in  France,  7ii7ie  char- 
adleristic  Diluvial  animals,  namely,  the  Cave  Bear,  the  Cave 
Lion,  the  Cave  Hyena,  the  Mammoth,  the  Rhinoceros  with  a 
bony  septum  to  the  nostrils,  (R.  tichorhiiius),  the  great  Irish- 

*  In  fact  such  doubts  have  been  raised  by  certain  French  savants,  such  as  Elie 
de  Beaumont,  Eugene  Robert  and  others,  notwithstanding  the  extreme  improb- 
ability of  their  having  any  solid  foundation  from  a  geological  point  of  view, — 
and  the  true  diluvial  character  of  the  axe-bearing  deposits  has  been  questioned. 
Even  if  such  doubts  may  be  scientifically  and  geologically  well-founded  they  must 
vanish  before  the  immense  mass  of  other  facts  and  evidence  leading  from  all  sides 
to  the  same  result.  Moreover,  at  present  all  the  more  considerable  savants  of 
the  world,  almost  without  exception,  admit  that  the  evidence  of  the  contempo- 
raneity of  man  with  the  great  Pachyderms  of  the  quaternary  epoch  and  with  the 
diluvial  animals  in  general  is  complete.  A  sharp  criticism  of  the  objections  to 
the  genuineness  of  the  flint-instruments  raised  by  Eugene  Robert,  Decaisne  and 
others,  will  be  found  in  a  small  work  by  Gabriel  de  Mortillet;  £^s  Mystifiis  de 
f  Academie  des  Sciences,  Paris,  1865. 


48  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

Deer,  the  Reindeer,  the  Aurochs  and  the  Uru3.  By  the  occur- 
rence of  these  species  he  distinguishes  foitr  successive  periods, 
of  which  that  of  the  Cave  Bear  is  the  most  ancient,  that  of  the 
Mammoth  and  Rhinoceros  the  second,  and  that  of  the  Urus  the 
most  recent.  Now  Lartet  has  ascertained  that  bones  of  nearly 
all  these  animals  show  unmistakable  signs  of  the  operations  of 
man,  either  during  the  life  of  the  animals  or  while  the  bones 
were  still  in  a  fresh  state,  the  bones  being  sometimes  injured  by 
wounds,  sometimes  worked  upon  and  sometimes  broken  or  split. 
The  last  form  of  human  interference  is  that  most  frequendy  met 
with,  and  its  obje6l  was  evidently  to  enable  the  marrow  to  be 
taken  out  of  the  bones,  this  having  been  apparently  as  great  a 
dainty  with  our  earliest  ancestors  as  it  still  is  among  both  savage 
and  civilized  people.*  Many  bones  also  exhibit  a  peculiar  stria- 
tion,  as  if  the  flesh  had  been  scraped  from  them  with  knives  or 
flint  flakes. 

But  besides  all  this,  there  are  numerous  indications  of  some- 
what artistic  work,  such  as  drawings,  rough  sculptures  and  the 
like.  These  are  rude  figures  or  outlines,  generally  representing 
animals  then  living,  engraved  by  means  of  fragments  of  flint 
upon  the  bones  and  horns  of  the  great  Irish  Deer,  the  Rein- 
deer, etc.  With  some  of  these  were  found  fragments  or  plates 
of  schist  with  engraved  outlines  of  animals,  especially  of  the 
Elk  and  Reindeer,  but  some  also  of  much  more  ancient  species, 
such  as  the  Mair.moth  or  long-haired  Elephant,  etc.  Even  die 
rude  and  imperfect  outline  of  the  figure  of  a  man  has  been  dis- 

*  That  this  special  fondness  for  marrow  persisted  long  after  the  times  of  pri- 
meval man  is  proved  by  a  notice  by  the  Greek  writer  Procopius,  who  lived  about 
the  year  550.  In  his  Gothic  History  he  describes  people,  whom  he  calls  the 
Scrithifinns,  living  in  the  extreme  north  of  Scandinavia,  and  states  as  the  principal 
indication  of  their  savage  state,  that  the  children  are  nourished  not  with  their 
mother's  milk,  but  with  the  marrow  of  animals.  As  soon  as  the  child  was  bom, 
the  mother  wrapped  it  up  in  a  skin,  hung  it  upon  a  tree,  put  sr>me  marrow  in  its 
mouth,  and  then  went  straight  off  to  the  chase  again.  An  excellent  mode  of 
rearing  children,  and  one  that  certainly  is  to  be  recommended  from  the  point  of 
view  of  economy  of  time  1 


The  workmen  m  the  valley 
of  the  Somme  have  named 
the  smaller  of  these  spear  or 
lance-heads  en  amande,  and 
the  larger  langiies  de  chat  : 
and  among  the  many  thou- 
sands which  have  been  dis- 
covered, not  one  has  been 
met  with  which  shows  a  trace 
of  polishing  or  grinding. 


FLINT   INSTRUMExVTS    FROM    HOXNK  —  HALF  THE   ORIGINAL   SIZE. 

"The  presence  of  implements  of  this  tvpe  in  gravel  drifts,"  says  Hodder  M. 
Westropp,  Inlrodiictory  Essavs  on  Pit- Historic  Arclueoloiry,  "which  geological 
evidence  assigns  to  a  verv  remote  period,  and  in  conjunction  with  bones  ot  ex- 
tinct animals,  argue  a  verv  remote  antiquity  fortlieir  manufacture,  and  a  very 
early  date  for  the  men  who  fabricated  them".  The  extreme  rudeness  of  the  im- 
plements bespeak  a  corresponding  rudeness  and  barbarous  condition  of  the 
men  who  made  tliem,  and  induee  a  belief  in  the  inferiority  of  this  primitive  race. 

"  These  implements  have  a  deep  claim  on  our  interest,  as  they  make  known  to 
us  the  earliest  productions  of  the  hand  of  man —  as  they  mark  the  first  step  in 
human  industry,  and  as  they  show,  in  the  most  unequivocal  manner,  '  the  length 
of  time  which  must  have  elapsed  since  the  first  appearance  of  man  in  Western 
Europe.' " 


OUR   ORIGIN.  49 

covered,  engraved  upon  a  fragment  ot  Reindeer  horn,  between 
two  ver>-  characteristic  horse's  heads.  These  draM^-ings.  which 
are  of  course  verj'  rough  and  often  very  grotesque,  display  to 
us  the  verv  infancv  of  art ;  nevertheless  from  the  unanimous 
testimony  of  those  who  have  seen  them,  they  are  so  characleris- 
tic  that  we  may  recognize  at  the  first  glance  the  animals  or  ob- 
jects which  they  were  intended  to  represent.  The  figures  of 
the  Reindeer  and  the  Mammoth*  are  particularly  distinct. 
Thus  M.  de  Lastic  found  in  the  cave  of  Bruniquel.  on  the 
banks  of  the  Arvevron.  a  bone  adorned  with  car\"ings,  on 
which  were  engra\ed  a  perlectly  recognizable  horse's  head 
and  the  head  of  a  Reindeer,  the  latter  easily  identified  by  the 
form  of  its  antiers.  The  handles  of  daggers  made  of  ivon»-  or 
bone  have  also  been  found,  on  which  the  above-mentioned 
animals  were  represented  at  fiill  length.  Reindeer  horn  is  the 
substance  most  frequentiy  engraved  upon  or  worked,  and  adapt- 
ed to  all  sorts  of  purposes. 

In  all,  Lartet  has  discovered  and  enumerated  seventeen  locali- 
ties, where  these  objecte  have  been  found  and  where,  according 
to  him.  man  undoubtedly  lived  contemporaneously  with  the 
animals  just  referred  to.     In  the  year  1S64.  he  and  Christy  first 

*  A  plate  of  ivory,  broken  into  several  pieces  which  were  imbedded  separately  in 
ossiferous  loam  hardened  by  the  infiltration  of  lime,  showed,  when  put  together, 
(as  described  by  Carl  Vogt  in  an  essay  published  in  the  Kclniscke  Zeitung  for 
1866)  the  outlines  of  no  less  than  three  elephants  walking  one  behind  the  other, 
of  which  however  the  entire  body  only  of  the  middle  one  was  visible.  By  the 
curvature  of  his  teeth,  the  long  mane  flowing  down  from  the  withers  and  the 
dense  hairiness  of  the  lower  surface  it  was  at  once  shown  to  be  a  Mammoth  drawn 
from  the  hfe.  Figures  of  the  Reindeer  are  extraordinarily  frequent ;  the  animal 
is  shown  in  the  most  various  pwsitions  and  is  readily  recognizable  by  its  antlers 
and  hair-tufts.  On  a  piece  of  slate  in  the  possession  of  the  Marquis  de  V'ibraye 
the  cirtist  has  even  ventured  ujxjn  the  representation  of  a  group  of  Reindeer 
fighting  with  each  other.  Usually  several  animals  of  the  same  species  or  groups 
of  them  are  represented,  a  leader  preceding  them,  whilst  the  others  follow  repre- 
sented at  half  length.  "  In  many  groups  we  seem  to  recognize  a  cautious 
watching  with  the  nose  and  eye,  the  scenting  of  periL' 

As  regards  the  representation  of  a  human  figure  mentioned  in  the  text,  this 
appears  to  be  naked,  and  in  the  meagemess  of  the  hip>s  and  tighs  and  the  promi- 
nence of  the  belly  reminds  us  rather  of  the  .\ustralian  than  of  the  European  type. 


50  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND   FUTURE. 

exhibited  to  the  French  Academy  a  number  of  such  specimens 
from  the  numerous  bone-caves  of  the  Dordogne  ;  the  inspection 
of  these  carried  conviction  to  the  most  incredulous.*  But  a  few 
years  later  the  quantity  of  these  remarkable  obje6ls  had  become 

*  Christy  depxjsited  in  Paris  a  rich  collection  of  such  objects,  which  furnished  a 
very  distinct  picture  of  that  distant  time.  In  iS66  Professor  Schaaffhausen  of 
Bonn,  laid  before  the  23d  General  Meeting  of  the  Natural  History  Society  of  the 
Rhineland  and  Westphalia,  various  implements  of  this  kind  made  of  the  bones 
and  horns  of  the  Reindeer,  such  as  arrow-heads  with  barbs,  needles  and  dagger- 
like  knives,  together  with  models  of  other  objects,  upon  some  of  which  pictures 
of  animals  presenting  the  most  striking  likeness  were  cut.  All  these  objects  were 
imbedded  with  flint  knives  and  bones  and  teeth  of  the  Reindeer  in  a  solid  calcare- 
ous concretion. — A  whole  block  of  this  remarkable  breccia  had  been  presented  by 
Lartet  at  the  Professor's  request  to  the  Museum  at  Poppelsdorf.  To  this  the 
Proffessor  added  a  description  of  some  similar  discoveries  in  the  Todtenfeld  at 
Uelde,  not  far  from  Lippstadt  in  Westphalia,  the  numerous  bone-caves  of  which 
promise,  when  carefully  examined,  to  furnish  results  no  less  interesting  to  the 
student  of  prehistoric  times  than  those  obtained  from  the  caves  of  Belgium  and 
the  South  of  France.  At  the  above-mentioned  locality  there  were  found  numer- 
ous broken  human  bones,  with  perforated  teeth  of  the  Wolf,  Dog  and  Horse, 
mixed  with  rude  flint  knives  and  an  awl  made  from  the  metatarsal  bone  of  a  stag. 
The  mode  in  which  the  human  bones  were  broken  leaves  scarcely  any  doubt, 
according  to  Schaaffhausen,  that  here  the  remains  of  a  meal  of  cannibals  have 
been  preserved,  the  same  thing  having  rlready  been  proved  by  Spring  with 
regards  to  the  discoveries  in  the  cave  of  Chauvaux  in  Belgium. 

In  1865,  Professor  Joly  of  Toulouse,  when  lecturing  upon  fossil  man  in  the  Rue 
de  la  Paix  at  Paris,  laid  before  his  auditors  some  still  more  interesting  objects : — 
"  Here,"  he  said,  "  are  two  lower  jaws  of  the  Cave-Bear,  which  have  very  proba- 
bly been  fractured  by  man  in  the  living  animal,  and  in  which  union  has  taken 
place  in  the  normal  way.  Here  is  a  skull  of  the  same  species  (skull  from  Nabrigas) 
which  has  been  pierced  in  its  frontal  part  by  a  flint  arrow.  It  is  also  a  flint  arrow  that 
we  see  still  adhering  to  this  vertebra  of  a  young  Reindeer  found  in  the  cave  of 
Les  Eyzies  by  MM.  Lartet  and  Christy.  Lastly  I  must  tell  you  that  Major 
Wanchope  has  found  a  flint  hammer  buried  in  the  skull  of  a  gigantic  Deer 
(Megaceros  hiberniciis.) 

"This  tooth  of  Ursus  spelaeus  (the  Cave  Bear)  which  has  served  to  make  a 
knife  of  which  the  enamel  forms  the  edge, —  this  phalange  of  the  same  animal, 
pierced  with  a  hole  which  traverses  it  from  side  to  side, —  these  barbed  arrow-heads 
made  of  the  bones  of  the  Stag  and  Reindeer,  and  the  grooves  in  which  seem  still 
ready  to  receive  the  poison  which  formerly  rendered  them  so  dangerous, — these 
antlers  on  which  the  flint  saw  has  so  clearly  left  its  mark, —  and  these  bones  of 
lost  species,  fashioned  into  knives,  polishers,  awls,  pins,  needles,  and  even  into 
whistles  or  objects  of  ornament, —  will  not  so  many  combined  proofs  gain  you 
over  to  the  cause  of  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes,  which  is  also  ours?  It  is  very 
evident  that  the  bones  thus  worked  could  only  be  so  treated  in  the  fresh  state,  &c." 


IMPLEMENTS    OF    CH  I  I'PED    STONE.       EUROPE. 


IMPLEMENTS  OF  POLISHED    STo.NK.       EUROPE. 


OUR   ORIGIN.  51 

SO  great,  that  in  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  the  year  1867,  whole 
glass  cases  were  filled  with  these  and  the  other  material  proofs 
of  the  prehistoric  existence  of  man.  Gabriel  de  Mortillet,  the 
celebrated  French  archaeogeologist,  concluded  a  report  upon 
this  portion  of  the  Exhibition  in  these  memorable  words : 
"The  contemporaneity  of  man  with  those  species  of  animals 
which  last  became  extinct,  his  contemporaneity  with  the  Rein- 
deer as  an  indigenous  animal  in  France,  is  amply,  positively  and 
irrevocably  proved  by  the  discovery  of  the  products  of  human 
industry  abundantly  mixed  with  the  remains  of  these  animals, 
which  have  now  become  extinft  or  have  emigrated,  in  un- 
disturbed quaternary  beds  and  in  the  midst  of  cave  deposits 
which  have  never  been  disturbed.  Upon  this  point  the  glass- 
cases,  which  occupy  the  left  hand  side  of  the  first  gallery  of  the 
history  of  French  industry,  can  leave  no  doubt.  They  are 
quite  sufficient  to  convince  any  one,  however  incredulous  or 
obstinate. 

"The  glass-case  showing  the  state  of  art  in  the  Reindeer 
period  furnishes  a  still  more  decisive  demonstration.  The  hand 
of  man  has  perfectly  represented  not  only  the  Reindeer,  an 
animal  which  has  now  emigrated,  but  also  the  great  Cave- 
Bear,  the  Cave-Tiger  and  the  Mammoth,  all  extin6l  animals, 
and  this  has  been  done  upon  the  spoils  of  the  Reindeer  and  the 
Mammoth  themselves.  Man  was  therefore  incontestably  con- 
temporaneous with  the  animals  of  which  he  employed  various 
parts  and  which  he  figured  so  accurately.  It  is  impossible  to 
have  a  more  convincing  demonstration." — (^Revue  des  cours 
scientifiques ,  1867,  page  703.) 

The  discoveries  of  Lartet  and  his  followers  relate  only  to  the 
bones  of  so-called  Diluvial  animals.  But  within  the  last  few 
year,  further  discoveries  in  the  same  direction  have  been  made 
known  by  a  French  naturalist,  M.  Desnoyers,  and  if  these 
prove  to  be  correct,  they  will  carry  back  the  antiquity  of  the 
human  race  upon  the  earth  to  a  period  of  which  no  one  hidierto 


52  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

ventured  even  to  dream,  except  perhaps  upon  purely  hypo- 
thetical grounds.  These  consist  of  the  traces  of  human  action 
on  the  bones  of  animals  belonging  to  the  Tertiary  period,  found 
in  the  gravel-beds  of  St.  Prest  near  Chartres  in  France.  They 
are  said  to  be  perfectly  analogous  to  the  traces  of  human  action 
observed  on  bones  from  the  Diluvial  period. 

The  Tertiary  period  forms,  as  is  well-known,  the  last  of  the 
three  great  se6lions,  (the  Primary,  Secondary  and  Tertiary 
periods),  under  which  it  is  usual  to  arrange  the  fossiliferous 
strata  of  the  earth,  and  consequently  its  geological  history. 
The  Tertiary  immediately  preceded  the  Diluvial  period.  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  has  personally  examined  the  specimens  referred 
to  and  regards  the  conclusions  which  have  been  drawn  from 
them  as  certainly  very  probable,  although,  on  the  whole,  in  his 
Antiquity  of  Man,  he  expresses  himself  rather  doubtfully  about 
the  matter.  On  the  other  hand  Carl  Vogt,  (in  his  Vorlesungen 
iiber  den  Menschen  and  in  the  Archiv  fur  Anthropologic), 
declares,  that  the  discovery  is  a  genuine  one  and  open  to  no 
doubt.  He  also  maintains  that  the  formation  in  which  these 
bones  were  found,  is  decidedly  Tertiary  and  therefore  geologi- 
cally older  than  the  French  Diluvial  formations.  According  to 
him  it  is  characterized  by  the  presence  of  the  Southern  Ele- 
phant, {Elephas  meredionalis),  and  belongs  to  an  epoch  which 
undoubtedly  preceded  the  glacial  period  and  the  age  of  the 
Cave  Bear,  the  Mammoth  and  the  Tichorhine  Rhinoceros. 
The  French  naturalist  Quatrefages  also  takes  the  side  of 
Desnoyers,  and  declares  that  his  investigations  bear  the  im- 
press of  the  most  severe  and  careful  study.  Desnoyers'  testi- 
mony is  the  more  valuable  as,  up  to  the  year  1845,  he  was  one 
of  the  most  decided  opponents  of  the  notion  of  the  existence 
of  fossil  man. 

Its  value  is  still  further  increased  by  a  communication  made 
by  Abbe  Bourgeois  to  the  International  Congress  of  Prehistoric 
Anthropology    and    Archaeology    held    at    Paris   in   the   year 


OUR    ORIGIN.  1^3 

1867. — In  tihe  ver>'  same  Tertiary  strata  of  St.  Prest,  in  which 
Desnoyers  found  worked  bones,  M.  Bourgeois  discovered  im- 
plements of  stone.  He  afterwards  stated  tliat  he  had  also  found 
numerous  worked  flints  in  strata  likewise  of  Tertiary  age  in 
the  commune  of  Thenay  near  Pontlevoy,  and  from  this  and 
some  other  discoveries  he  concluded,  that  the  existence  of  man 
reached  a  very  high  antiquity,  extending  even  into  the  Tertiary 
period.  He  added  that  Abbe  Delaunay  had  found  near 
Pouanc6,  (Maine  et  Loire),  fossil  bones  of  a  Halitheriiim, 
(a  herbivorous  cetacean  of  the  Miocene  or  Middle  Tertiary 
period),  with  evident  signs  of  having  been  operated  upon  with 
cutting  instruments. 

Lasdy,  M.  A.  Issel  communicated  to  the  same  congress  a 
notice  of  several  human  bones  which,  as  he  stated,  he  had 
found  in  beds  of  the  Pliocene  age,  (i.  e.,  belonging  to  the  last 
section  of  the  Tertiary  period),  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  town 
of  Savona  in  Liguria,  and  which  presented  all  the  physical 
tokens  of  very  high  antiquity.  (See  the  Compte  rendu  du 
Congrh  international  d'  Anthropologic  et  d'  Archeologie  pre- 
hisiorique.     Paris,  1868). 

As  a  matter  of  course  we  can  only  hope  that  these  remarkable 
discoveries  will  be  confirmed  in  course  of  time,  and  after  they 
have  been  submitted  to  a  careful,  critical  examination.  But,  if 
they  prove  to  be  well  founded,  they  are  doubtless  strongly  in 
favor  of  the  conjectures  of  those  naturalists  who,  upon  theoretical 
grounds  alone,  have  held  that  the  eariiest  appearance  of  man 
upon  the  earth  must  be  referred  back  at  all  events  to  the  last  and 
perhaps  even  to  the  middle  or  the  eariiest  section  of  the  great 
Tertiary  period. 

In  this  summary  the  evidences  in  favor  of  the  great  antiquity 
of  the  existence  of  man  are  exhausted,  at  all  events  in  their 
principal  outlines.  But  we  could  not  mention  in  it  those 
evidences  which,  leaving  geological  times  out  of  consideration 
altogether,  are  derived  from  the  present  epoch  — from  the  period 


54  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

of  the  earth's  formation  which  is  now  passing.  And  yet  the 
alluvium  or  so-called  recent  formations  furnish  evidence  of  a 
very  high  antiquity  of  the  human  race  upon  the  earth — an 
antiquity  indeed  which  leaves  far  behind  it  not  only  the  truly 
historical  periods,  but  even  the  times  of  Biblical  tradition.  For 
whilst  the  latter  can  only  be  calculated  backwards  to  five  or 
seven  thousand  years  at  the  utmost,  the  duration  of  the  alluvial 
period  according  to  the  calculations  of  Geologists  was  at  least  a 
hundred  thousand  years,  and  perhaps  still  more,  so  that  this 
alone  gives  a  very  wide  range  in  time  for  the  so-called  pre- 
historic existence  of  man. 

Moreover,  the  evidence  derived  from  this  source  has  one 
great  advantage  over  the  earlier  proofs  ;  it  does  not  rest  upon 
argument,  but,  at  least  in  part,  upon  direct  calculation  and  ob- 
servation. The  discoveries  made  in  the  alluvial  deposits  are 
now,  as  might  be  expected,  very  numerous  and  varied;  only  a 
few  of  the  best  known  will  be  cited  here  as  examples. 

In  the  years  1851  to  1854,  experimental  borings  were  made  in 
the  Delta  of  the  Nile  in  Lower  Egypt,  and  obje6ls  of  human 
handiwork  or  fragments  of  pottery  were  found  at  depths  of 
sixty  to  seventy  feet.  Reckoning  the  thickness  of  the  alluvial 
deposits  in  the  Delta  of  the  Nile  at  five  inches  in  a  century,  we 
obtain  for  these  relics  of  human  activity  an  antiquity  of  14,400 
to  17,300  years.  But  if  we  follow  M.  Rosicre  in  estimating  the 
rate  of  deposition  at  only  two  and  one-half  inches  in  a  century, 
we  obtain  for  a  fragment  of  red  brick  found  by  Linant  Bey, 
at  a  depth  of  seventy-two  feet,  an  antiquity  of  thirty  thousand 
years.  Burmeister  who  assumes  that  the  addition  to  the  thick- 
ness of  the  soil  in  Lower  Egypt  is  three  and  one-half  inches  in 
the  century,  and  that  since  the  appearance  of  man  in  that-region 
two  hundred  feet  have  been  deposited,  extends  his  calculation 
of  the  antiquity  of  man  to  no  less  than  seventy-two  thousand 
years.     (See  his  Geologische  Brief e. ) 

In  Sweden  a  fisherman's  hut  was  excavated,  the  age  of  which 


OUR   ORIGIN.  55 

is  to  be  reckoned  at  ten  thousand  years  or  even  more.  Another 
similar  discovery  was  made  in  the  same  country,  during  the 
digging  of  a  canal  between  Stockholm  and  Gothenburg,  when 
a  hearth  built  of  stones,  with  fragments  of  wood  charcoal,  was 
found  beneath  an  accumulation  of  ' '  Osars ' '  or  erratic  blocks  in 
the  deepest  layer  of  the  subsoil,  proving  that  man  must  have 
dwelt  on  that  spot  during  and  even  before  the  so-called  glacial 
period. 

In  Florida,  (North  America),  portions  of  human  skeletons 
were  found  in  a  bank  composed  of  coral-rock,  the  age  of  which 
is  calculated  by  Agassiz  to  be  at  least  ten  thousand  years.  On 
the  same  continent,  in  the  Mississippi  delta,  during  the  excava- 
tion of  the  gas  works  at  New  Orleans,  human  bones,  (including 
a  skull,  exhibiting  all  the  characteristics  of  the  aboriginal  South 
American  race,)  were  found  at  a  depth  of  sixteen  feet,  beneath 
six  different  alluvial  beds.  The  antiquity  of  these  remains  is 
estimated  by  Dr.  Dowler  at  from  fifty  to  sixty  thousand  years. 
This  estimate  has  been  repeatedly  attacked  with  a  view  to  in- 
validate it,  but  Carl  Vogt,  who  reproduces  the  whole  calculation 
in  his  Lectures  on  Man,  says  it  is  impregnable.  According  to 
Broca  all  the  endeavors  that  have  been  made  to  diminish  the 
antiquity  assigned  to  this  celebrated  discovery,  have  been  in- 
capable of  reducing  it  below  fifteen  thousand  years.  Sir  Charles 
Lyell,  (in  his  Ayitiquity  of  Man),  cites  an  old  sea-bottom,  strewn 
with  fragments  of  ancient  pottery,  near  Cagliari,  (Sardinia), 
which  must  have  an  antiquity  of  at  least  seventeen  thousand  years. 

A  few  years  ago,  in  making  a  railway  near  Villeneuve  on  the 
Lake  of  Geneva,  the  section  of  a  conical  hill  of  alluvium  was 
exposed,  and  from  the  contents  of  this  Dr.  Morlot  inferred  an 
antiquity  of  from  seven  to  ten  thousand  years  for  the  existence 
of  Man  at  that  spot.* 

Here,  also,  we  must  refer  to  the  celebrated  Pile-buildings  or 
Lake-dwellings  of  Switzerland,  Italy,  etc.,  which  have  attracted 

*See  Appendix  No.  4. 


56  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

SO  much  attention  of  late  years.  These  prove  beyond  the 
shadow  of  a  doubt  the  existence  of  a  primeval,  prehistoric, 
semi-aquatic  population  in  Europe,  of  whose  existence  history 
gives  us  no  hint  whatever.* 

To  the  same  category  belong  the  vast,  primeval  turf-moors 
of  Denmark  and  Iceland,  which  conceal  in  their  bosoms  in- 
numerable proofs  of  the  very  high  antiquity  of  man  in  these 
regions  ;t  the  ancient  Mounds  or  Earthworks  in  the  valleys  of 
the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  in  North  America,  which  also  incon- 
testably  prove  the  existence  of  a  very  ancient  population  already 
considerably  advanced  in  civilization,  which  possessed  and  cul- 
tivated the  land  long  before  its  occupation  by  the  red  Indian 
hunters;!  and  lastly  the  wonderful  Danish  shell-heaps  or  kitchen- 

*See  Appendix  No.  5.     t  See  Appendix  No.  6. 

X  When  America  was  first  discovered  and  for  a  long  time  afterwards,  that 
continent  was  reg;arded  as  destitute  of  all  ancient  civilization,  analogous  to  that  of 
Europe.  Hence  people  were  the  more  surprised  when,  by  the  investigations  of 
Squier  and  Davis  on  the  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the 
opposite  was  proved,  and  it  was  shown  that,  long  before  the  times  of  the  Indian 
Redskin,  those  plains  must  have  been  the  seat  of  a  considerable  civilization. 
Great  walls  of  earth,  ruins  of  towns,  remains  of  statuary,  objects  of  gold,  silver  and 
copper,  pottery,  ornaments,  stone-weapons,  &c.,  prove  that  the  western  hemi- 
spheres were  not  always  interminable  forests  and  endless  prairies,  serving  no 
other  purpose  than  that  of  forming  a  hunting-ground  for  the  red  hunters.  The 
earth-mounds,  which  are  often  so  large  that  four  of  them  together  exceed  the 
great  Egyptian  pyramid  in  cubic  contents,  may  have  served  in  part  as  temples, 
in  part  a;  burying  places,  and  in  part  as  fortifications.  The  Europeans  who 
made  thtir  way  there  found  the  mounds  covered  with  a  dense  forest  in  which  the 
red  Indian  hunter  dwelt,  without  any  traditional  connection  with  his  civilized 
predecessors;  and  from  the  growth  of  plants  and  trees  upon  the  earth-works  an 
approximate  antiquity  of  several  thousand  years  before  the  European  immigra- 
tion has  been  assigned  to  them.  The  human  skulls  which  have  been  exhumed  in 
some  places  belong  to  a  different  race  of  men  from  those  now  living. 

Quite  recently,  in  South  America,  mummies  with  brown  hair  have  been  dis- 
covered. If  this  brown-haired  race  came  from  Europe  this  must  have  happened 
long  before  all  history  ;  and  on  the  western  shores  of  that  continent  a  civilization 
must  have  flourished,  of  which  all  traces  had  already  disappeared  when  the 
Roman  dominion  was  extended  over  Britain,  Gaul  and  Spain. 

According  to  Scherzer  {Vortrag  an/ der  Natui/orscher-Versavimlung  in  IVien, 
iS^6),  the  Toltecs  met  with  by  the  Spaniards  are  the  architects  of  the  monuments  and 
buildings  in  the  interior  of  America.  They  first  appear  in  the  seventh  century  upon 
the  plateau  of  Mexico,  and  their  remnants  still  linger  in  Central  America. 


IMPLEMENTS   OF   CHU'PEU   STONE.      NORTH   AMERICA. 


STONE    AKKOU-HEADS,    MODERN.      CANADA. 


OUR    ORIGIN.  57 

middens,  (Kjokkenmoddings),  consisting  of  enormous  heaps  of 
the  shells  of  marine  animals,  especially  Oysters,  which  have 
served  for  the  nourishment  of  primeval  men,  by  whom  their 
shells  have  thus  been  accumulated.  These  heaps,  which  are 
placed  upon  the  sea-shore,  are  often  as  much  as  one  thousand 
feet  in  length,  by  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  feet  in  breadth, 
and  five  to  ten  feet  in  height.  They  occur  on  the  coasts  of 
Zealand  and  Judand  and  of  the  islands  of  Fimen,  Moen, 
Samsoe,  etc.,  and  also  on  some  parts  of  the  Swedish  and 
Genoese  coasts,  always  along  the  creeks  and  bays,  where  the 
force  of  the  waves  is  great,  and  generally  at  the  very  edge  of 
the  water,  except  in  those  places  where  alluvial  deposits  or 
elevations  of  the  land  have  subsequently  removed  them  to  a 
greater  distance.  In  these  shell-heaps  direct  traces  of  the  ex- 
istence of  man  are  always  found,  especially  weapons  and  other 
instruments  of  stone,  horn  and  bone,  fragments  of  clumsy 
pottery,  stone-wedges,  stone-knives,  etc.,  in  great  abundance, 
accompanied  by  fragments  of  charcoal  and  ashes,  but  no  traces 
of  corn,  bronze  or  iron,  or  of  orchard  fruits  or  domestic  animals, 
with  the  sole  exception  of  the  Dog.  The  numerous  bones  of 
animals  which  have  been  found,  belong  chiefly  to  the  Urus, 
the  Aurochs,  the  Stag,  the  Roe-deer,  the  Wild  Boar,  the  Fox, 
Wolf,  Beaver,  Otter,  etc. ,  and  all  the  bones  containing  marrow 
have  been  split  up  for  the  purpose  of  extra6ling  from  them  that 
favorite  article  of  food.  Human  bones  never  occur  in  the 
kitchen-middens,  probably  because  the  people  who  formed 
them  were  accustomed  to  bury  their  dead.* 

That  these  shell-mounds  or  offal-heaps  must  be  of  great  an- 
tiquity,   reaching   indeed   into  a  period  geologically  separate 

*  By  the  exertions  of  the  Danish  archaeolog^ist  Worsaae,  the  Museum  of  Northern 
antiquities  and  the  geological  Museum  of  the  University  of  Copenhagen,  contain 
an  extraordinary  abundance  of  objects  from  the  kitchen-middens  brought  there 
and  exhibited  in  their  natural  state.  These  shell-heaps  have  long  been  known, 
but  they  were  regarded  as  natural  deposits  until,  in  the  year  1847,  three  dis- 
tinguished Danish  savants,  Steenstrup,  Forchhammer  and  Worsaae,  investigated 
them  thoroughly  and  ascertained  their  artificial  origin. 


58  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

from  ours,  is  proved  by  the  circumstance  that  shells  of  the 
m.arine  Mollusca  contained  in  them,  (such  as  the  Oyster,  Ostrea 
edulis,  the  Cockle,  Cardium  edule,  the  Mussel,  Mytilus  edulis, 
etc.),  are  still  of  a  size  which  is  never  attained  by  representa- 
tives of  the  same  species  now  living  in  the  Baltic.  Living 
specimens  are  not  more  than  one-half  or  even  one-third  of  the 
size  of  those  in  the  shell-mounds.  The  cause  of  the  diminution  of 
size  is  as  follows  :  The  Baltic,  being  no  longer  freely  in  com- 
munication with  the  Ocean  and  receiving  the  waters  of  numer- 
ous rivers,  does  not  retain  the  character  of  a  true  sea,  but  is 
merely  brackish,  whilst  these  Molluscs  require  to  live  in  the 
salt-water  of  the  open  sea  in  order  that  they  may  attain  their 
full  size.  This  is  the  case  in  a  particularly  remarkable  degree 
with  the  common  Oyster,  which,  as  has  been  stated,  is  very 
abundant  in  the  shell-mounds ;  this  mollusc  does  not  now 
occur  in  the  Baltic  except  just  at  its  entrance,  where  it  com- 
municates with  the  open  Ocean.  From  this  we  must  conclude 
that,  at  the  time  when  these  heaps  were  formed,  the  Baltic  had 
quite  a  different  form  from  that  which  it  now  possesses,  and 
especially  that  its  communication  with  the  Atlantic  ocean  was 
much  more  free  and  open.  Nevertheless,  the  kitchen-middens, 
notwithstanding  their  high  antiquity,  belong  only  to  the  recent 
or  alluvial  period,  as  they  contain  only  the  bones  of  animals  still 
living.  The  sole  exception  to  this  statement  is  the  Wild  Bull 
or  Urus,  (^Bos primigenius  or  Urus),  which,  however,  was  seen 
by  Caesar.  Quite  recently  similar  shell-mounds  have  been  dis- 
covered upon  a  great  extent  of  the  coasts  of  both  North  and 
South  America.* 

*  Shell-mounds  and  kitchen-refuse  have  been  found  in  America  in  g^reat 
abundance.  In  South  America  on  the  east  coast,  on  the  Pacific  ocean,  in  Brazil 
and  Guayaquil  and  on  the  east  coast  of  North  America,  near  Halifax  in  Nova 
Scotia  and  on  Margaret's  Bay.  These  last  contain  only  implements  of  the  stone- 
age;  and  with  these  are  found  bones  of  the  Moose,  Bear,  Beaver,  Porcupine,  &c. 
The  shells  found  belong  to  the  species,  Venus  mercenaria,  Pecten  islandicus, 
Crepedula  formicata  and  Mytilus  edulis,  the  last  in  so  fragile  or  soft  a  condition, 


OUR    ORIGIN.  59 

To  the  pile-dwellings,  kitchen-middens  and  the  like,  we  must 
add  as  the  last  and  latest  term  in  the  series  of  traces  of  his 
existence  left  by  prehistoric  man  in  the  alluvial  soils,  the  tumuH 
or  "giant's  graves,"  as  they  are  sometimes  called,  which  were 
formerly  supposed  to  contain  the  bones  of  a  race  of  giants  who 
lived  before  man,  and  also  the  remarkable  obje6ls  known  as 
Dobnens  or  "  stone  tables. "  But  although  the  grave-mounds 
and  stone  monuments  themselves  are  gigantic,  the  men  who 
built  them  were  nothing  of  the  kind,  but  rather  of  smaller  stature 
than  the  men  of  the  present  day.*  They  were  probably  sup- 
planted by  the  taller,  more  powerful  and  more  civilized  race  of 
the  Celts,  with  whose  appearance  on  the  scene  the  first  dawn  of 
history  in  central  Europe  commences. 

With  these,  therefore,  we  have  arrived  at  the  close  of  that 
series  of  facts  fitted  to  throw  some  light  upon  the  prehistoric 
existence  and  high  antiquity  of  man  upon  the  earth,  and  conse- 
quently at  the  end  of  our  description  of  the  whole  matter  before  us. 
This  subjedl  can  only  be  sketched  here  in  its  most  general  out- 
lines and  so  as  to  show  its  most  prominent  points,  just  as  an 
Alpine  traveler  standing  in  the  centre  of  a  mountain-panorama 
is  usually  told  the  names  only  of  the  most  prominent  and  strik- 
ing of  the  infinite  chain  of  peaks  and  mountains  surrounding 
him,  whilst  the  hundreds  of  smaller  peaks,  though  in  their  own 
way  perhaps  equally  remarkable,  are  passed  over  in  silence. 
Certainly  the  questions  which  naturally  arise  from  the  con- 
sideration of  these  facts  as  to  the  antiquity  and  origin  of  our 

as  to  fall  to  pieces  when  touched.  A  traveler,  Clement  Markham,  has  recently 
given  a  more  accurate  account  of  the  shell-mounds  found  on  the  coast  of  Ecuador, 
not  far  from  Guayaquil;  they  consist  of  fragments  of  pottery  and  of  four 
different  sea-shells,  one  of  which  is  extinct  in  that  region.  Many  cutting  instru- 
ments made  of  quartz-crystals  were  also  found. 

As  regards  the  absence  of  human  bones  in  the  shell-mounds  mentioned  in  the 
text,  the  rule  appears  to  be  not  without  exceptions.  At  least  it  is  stated  in  the 
Anthropological  Review,  (February,  1865,  page  xxix.),  that  human  bones  have 
been  found  in  the  shell-mounds  of  Caithness,  in  the  same  state  as  the  bones  of 
animals  associated  with  them. 

*  See  Appendix  No.  7. 


6o       MAN  IN  THE  PAST,  PRESENT,  AND  FUTURE. 

race,  or  the  consequences  which  we  are  justified  in  deducing 
from  them,  are  of  more  importance  and  significance  than  the 
facts  themselves. 

Thus,  what  is  truly  the  antiquity  of  the  human  race  upon  the 
earth  reckoned  in  years?  What  is  the  relation  of  this  antiquity 
to  the  antiquity  of  the  earth  itself?  And  what  is  its  relation 
to  the  periods  of  history  and  popular  tradition  ?  How  is  it 
that  we  have  no  historical  traditions  of  this  earliest  period? 
And  what  is  the  relation  between  the  primitive  time  and  the 
primitive  condition  of  our  race  in  prehistoric  periods  ?  Are  we 
to  suppose  that  man  has  gradually  struggled  from  a  low  and 
rude  state  into  civilization  ?  or  that  he  fell  from  a  primitive  state 
of  high  cultivation,  only  to  work  his  way  again  to  the  same 
condition  at  a  later  period  ?  and  if  the  former  be  the  case,  how 
has  his  gradual  advance  to  his  present  state  of  civilization  been 
effected?  All  these  questions,  which  are  almost  immediately 
conne6led  with  the  highest  interests  of  humanity,  we  shall  now 
endeavor  to  answer  to  the  best  of  our  power,  and  so  far  as  the 
present  state  of  knowledge  will  permit.  But  before  doing  so 
we  may  remark  that  these  questions  and  conclusions  do  not 
merely  occupy  our  intelligence,  but  must  also  appeal  to  our 
emotions,  when  we  consider  the  immense  series  of  races  which 
have  disappeared  before  our  time,  and  the  immeasurable 
grandeur  of  that  Creation  in  the  midst  of  which  we  live. 

As  regards  the  first  question,  or  that  of  the  determination  by 
years  of  the  antiquity  of  the  human  race,  any  such  calculation  is 
excessively  difficult  except  in  the  case  of  the  alluvial  deposits. 
With  respect  to  these  we  know  pretty  nearly  the  depth  of 
deposit  produced  in  a  certain  time,  and  then  according  to  the 
depth  at  which  human  remains  or  objects  of  human  workman- 
ship have  been  found,  we  may  calculate  the  time  which  must 
have  elapsed  since  those  obje6ls  were  deposited  there.  But  as 
soon  as  we  pass  from  the  Recent  period  to  the  so-called  geo- 
logical periods,   we  no  longer  possess  any  such   standard  of 


IMPLEMENTS   OF   POLISHED   STONE.      NORTH   AMERICA. 


OUR    ORIGIN.  6l 

measurement  and  have  to  depend  solely  upon  approximate  data. 
Hence  this  question  has  been  answered  in  ihe  most  different 
ways.  In  Geology  we  know  no  absolute  numbers,  but  only  such 
as  are  relative  or  proportional.  We  do  not  even  know  exactly 
the  total  length  of  the  Alluvial  period  which  separates  us  from 
antediluvian  times,  but  have  to  depend  upon  calculations  which 
are  different  in  different  places,  and  which  indeed  indicate  an 
actual  difference  in  the  length  of  this  period  at  different  parts 
of  the  earth's  surface.  And  as  no  definite  line  of  demarcation 
exists  between  the  Alluvium  and  Diluvium  of  the  older  geol- 
ogists, and  as  the  two  pass  gradually  one  into  the  other,  we  do 
not  even  know  how  long  the  existence  of  the  antediluvian 
animals,  upon  which,  however,  the  whole  question  turns,  may 
have  extended  into  the  alluvial  period  at  particular  places  ;  and 
we  know  nothing  certain  as  to  the  time  either  of  their  first 
appearance  or  of  their  extin6lion.  Nevertheless  this  much  is 
certain,  that  since  the  time  when  those  deposits,  in  which  we 
find  the  remains  of  man  and  of  Diluvial  animals  intermixed 
were  produced,  considerable  geological  changes  must  have 
taken  place  in  the  surface  of  the  earth.*  Thus,  to  cite  only  a 
few  of  these  changes  as  examples  of  the  rest,  nearly  all  the 
European  rivers  had  at  that  time,  at  least  in  part,  a  different 
and  more  elevated  course;  England  and  France  were  not  yet 
separated  by  the  Channel,  but  formed  a  single,  continuous  mass 
of  land,  so  that  the  men  of  that  period  might  have  gone  on  foot 
from  London  to  Paris,  if  those  cities  had  then  been  in  existence ; 
and  the  proud  Thames,  upon  whose  bosom  nowadays  the  ships 
of  all  nations  rest,  still  formed  only  a  humble  affluent  of  the 
German  Rhine.  The  beautiful  Switzerland,  so  favored  by  all 
tourists  and  lovers  of  Nature,  was  then  inaccessible  to  human 
foot;  —  from  the  summit  of  the  Alps  to  beyond  the  Jura,  down 
to  Geneva  and  even  to  far  distant  Soleure,  it  was  buried  beneath 

*  This  is  a  point  which  has  been  demonstrated  by  Lyell  in  his  Antiquity  oj 
Man  from  a  geological  point  of  view,  in  great  detail  and  with  great  scientific 
knowledge. 


62  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

the  chilling  pressure  of  an  enormous  mass  of  ice,  which  bore 
upon  its  mighty  back  gigantic  fragments  of  rock,  and  rolled 
them  along  to  places  where  they  now  look  as  if  they  had  been 
transported  by  the  hands  of  giants.  The  great  desert  of  the 
Sahara  was  still  overflowed  by  the  waves  of  the  sea  ;  its  desert 
and  burning  sands  were  not  yet  exposed  so  as  to  produce  that 
glowing  wind,  which,  nowadays,  after  traversing  the  Mediter- 
ranean, melts  away  the  winter-snows  on  the  summits  of  the 
Alps  as  if  by  magic,  and  converts  the  plain  of  Switzerland, 
formerly  buried  under  everlasting  ice,  into  a  blooming  country 
covered  with  towns  and  villages.  Lastly,  the  animals  and  plants 
then  living  were  essentially  different,  in  accordance  with  this 
different  state  of  things,  from  those  of  the  present  day. 

Such  important  changes  as  these,  in  the  structure  of  the 
earth's  surface,  in  climate,  in  the  distribution  of  land  and  water, 
and  in  the  organic  world,  necessarily  imply  the  lapse  of  a  very 
long  period  of  time,  that  is  to  say,  long  in  comparison  to  the 
standards  which  the  shortness  of  our  own  lives  has  led  us  to  accept 
as  our  rules  ;  for  in  the  history  and  development  of  the  earth  a 
thousand  years  count  as  little  more  than  a  moment  in  our  own 
existence. 

The  traces  of  the  Diluvial  period  itself,  the  duration  and 
extent  of  which  of  course  are  of  the  highest  importance  in  this 
question,  are  not,  as  was  formerly  supposed,  the  results  of  one 
or  several  sudden  catastrophes,  but  of  a  very  gradual  course  of 
development  and  of  multifarious  and  distinct  natural  processes. 
For  their  production  they  would  certainly  have  required  far 
more  time  than  the  formation  of  the  Alluvium.  We  possess 
sufficient  evidence  that  man  must  have  lived*  even  during  and 
before  the  glacial  epoch,  a  subdivision  of  the  quaternary  or 
Diluvial  period,  probably  extending  very  far  back  in  it. 

From  this  it  follows,  that  his  existence  did  not  merely  coincide 
with  the  conclusion  of  the  period  of  the  Diluvium,  but  that  it 

*See  Appendix  No.  8. 


OUR    ORIGIN.  63 

extended  far  into  that  period,  perhaps  even  to  its  commence- 
ment, a  fact  which  is  further  proved  by  the  deposition  of  the 
diluvial  flint  axes  in  the  very  lowest  bed  of  the  Diluvium,  quite 
close  to  the  underlying  chalk.  But  if  the  discoveries  of  MM. 
Desnoyers,  Bourgeois,  etc.,  above  referred  to,  prove  to  be 
corre6l,  the  existence  of  man  extends  far  beyond  even  the 
Diluvial  period  and  far  into  the  great  Tertiary  epoch,  and  in 
this  case  his  presence  on  the  earth  can  only  be  calculated  by 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  ! 

You  are  doubtless  startled,  honored  reader,  by  the  magni- 
tude of  this  number;  and  yet  in  comparison  with  the  enormous 
periods  of  time  which  the  earth  has  seen  pass  away  during  its 
gradual  devolopment  and  formation,  it  is  a  mere  nothing.  In 
the  attempt  to  calculate  the  time  required  for  the  building  up 
only  of  the  stratified  portion  of  the  earth's  crust,  geologists  have 
reached  a  period  of  from  six  to  seven  hundred  millions  of 
years  !  Other  geologists  make  a  rather  smaller  calculation, 
but  in  this  case  a  hundred  million  years  more  or  less  is  of  litde 
consequence. 

Thus  we  see  that,  great  as  may  be  the  antiquity  of  man  in 
comparison  with  the  periods  of  history  or  tradition,  he  is  never- 
theless very  young  upon  the  earth  itself,  and  under  any  circum- 
stances, is  one  of  its  last  and  most  recent  productions.  For 
even  supposing  that  man  was  in  existence  as  early  as  the  close 
or  even  the  middle  of  the  Tertiary  period,  he  still  reaches  but 
a  little  way  up  in  the  great  scale  of  the  history  of  the  earth. 
This  scale,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  fossiliferous  strata,  has  been 
divided  by  Lyell  into  thirty-six  members,  but  this  number  now 
appears  to  be  too  small,  as  still  older  strata  have  recently  been 
found  to  contain  organic  remains.  In  this  scale  then,  the  man 
of  the  Tertiary  period  would  extend  to  No.  3  or  No.  4,  or  at 
the  outside  to  No.  5  or  No.  6  !  Innumerable  races  of  plants 
and  animals  preceded  him  in  series  long  drawn  out,  and  during 
almost  infinite  periods  ot  time,   and  man  himself  plays,  as  it 


64  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

were,  only  in  the  last  aft  of  a  colossal  Drama,  the  first  scenes 
of  which  are  concealed  from  us  by  impenetrable  darkness. 

Upon  theoretical  grounds  Sir  Charles  Lyell  regards  it  as  very 
probable,  that  man  lived  as  long  ago  as  the  Pliocene  or  last 
subdivision  of  the  Tertiary  period ;  but  he  considers  it  im- 
probable, that  the  existence  of  the  human  race  dates  back  to 
the  Miocene  or  middle  division  of  the  same  period.  This  latter 
opinion  he  founds  upon  the  fact  that  about  this  time  the  general 
character  of  the  organized  world,  (animals  and  plants),  was  still 
too  different  from  that  of  the  living  forms.  On  the  other  hand, 
Sir  John  Lubbock  asserts,  that  in  his  earliest  beginnings  man 
must  have  lived  in  the  Miocene  period,  but  that  we  can  hope 
to  meet  with  his  bones  or  other  remains  from  that  epoch  only 
in  the  tropical  regions  which  have  as  yet  been  so  imperfectly 
explored  !  Wallace  even  thinks  that  we  must  refer  the  first 
appearance  of  man  upon  the  earth  still  farther  back,  to  the 
Eocene  or  first  subdivision  of  the  great  Tertiary  period. 

From  this  we  may  see,  that  philosophers  are  still  much 
divided  in  opinion  as  to  the  real  antiquity  of  our  race  upon  the 
earth,  and  that  it  is  still  quite  impossible  to  estimate  it  definitely 
in  years.  All  that  we  can  regard  as  perfectly  certain  is,  that 
the  known  historical  period  is  a  mere  nothing  in  point  of  time 
when  compared  with  the  periods  duri72g  7vhich  our  race  has 
aFliially  inhabited  the  eai'th,  or  as  Lyell  significantly  expresses 
it,  this  historical  period  is  comparatively  only  a  creation  of 
yesterday.  In  this  opinion  all  students  of  the  subject  now  agree, 
even  those  who  were  formerly  the  most  obstinate  of  its  op- 
ponents. 

In  point  of  fact,  true  history,  that  is,  such  history  as  we  may 
consider  authentic,  from  its  being  transmitted  to  us  by  credible 
written  or  traditional  evidence,  by  no  means  attains  so  high  an 
antiquity  as  is  commonly  believed.  It  only  commences  with 
the  institution  of  the  Greek  Olympiads  or  with  the  year  776  B.  C. 
The  famous  Trojan  war  is  certainly  a  good  deal  older  and  carries 


OUR    ORIGIN.  65 

US  back  to  iioo  or  1200  years  B.  C. ;  but  the  account  of  it  is 
well  known  to  be  only  a  mixture  of  fiftion  and  truth.  That 
the  Greeks  themselves  did  not  venture  to  date  their  history 
very  far  back,  appears  from  the  circumstance  that  Hecataeus 
of  Miletus,  who  lived  500  years  B.  C. ,  expresses  the  opinion, 
that  for  some  900  years  the  Gods  had  no  longer  taken  women 
for  their  wives.  This,  therefore,  would  indicate  a  date  of  1400 
years  before  our  era. 

Beyond  this  earliest  dawn  of  history  we  have  nothing  but 
myths  and  traditions,  oral  communications  transmitted  from 
generation  to  generation,  or  isolated  data  derived  from  old 
documents  ;  or  a  history  has  been  artificially  compiled  from 
monuments,  buildings,  old  inscriptions,  etc.  Thus  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Aryan  race  of  mankind  reach  to  two  thousand 
years  B.  C.  The  Semitic  writings  place  the  birth  of  Abraham, 
the  progenitor  of  the  Jews,  at  about  2000  years  B.  C.,*  and 
throw  back  the  Deluge  into  the  fortieth  century  before  our  era. 
From  the  creation  to  the  Deluge  the  Bible  reckons  from  one 
to  two  thousand  years,  and  from  this  we  get  a  total  of  from  five 
to  six  thousand  years  before  Christ. 

The  very  ancient  history  of  the  Chinese  contains  two  isolated 
dates  as  the  oldest.  According  to  their  writings  the  Deluge 
admitted  by  them  took  place  in  the  time  of  the  emperor  Yao,  or 
in  the  year  2357  B.  C. ,  and  the  art  of  writing  was  invented  by 
Huangti  as  early  as  the  year  2698  B.  C.  About  this  time,  and 
whilst  the  Jews  still  led  a  nomadic  life  under  the  patriarchs, 
the  Chinese  must  have  already  attained  a  very  high  degree  of 
civilization.  The  mythical  or  legendary  history  of  that  people 
indeed  reaches  the  enormous  antiquity  of  129,600  years,  a  lapse 
of  time  which,  according  to  their  traditions,  was  composed  of 
twelve  great  divisions,  (each  of  10,800  years),  and  embraced 

*  According  to  calculations  made  upon  the  authority  of  the  inscriptions  upon 
some  Assyrian  tablets  now  in  the  British  Museum,  the  time  of  Abraham  would 
fall  about  the  year  22go  B.  C. 


66  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

three  great  periods,  namely :  the  reign  of  da?'kness.  the  reign  of 
the  earth,  and  the  reign  of  vian.  Professor  Spiegef  gives  a 
somewhat  similar  account  of  the  Babylonians,  who  ascribed  to 
their  ten  most  ancient  patriarchs  lives  amounting  altogether  to 
432,000  years.  According  to  Alex,  von  Humboldt,  Strabo 
says  of  the  aborigines  of  Spain,  (the  Turduli  and  Turdetani), 
' '  they  make  use  of  the  art  of  writing  and  have  books  contain- 
ing memorials  of  ancient  times  and  also  poems  and  precepts  in 
verse,  for  which  they  claim  an  antiquity  of  six  thousand  years." 

As  regards  the  derivation  of  history  from  Monuments  and 
Inscriptions,  the  first  place  is  due  to  the  most  anciently  civilized 
land  in  the  world,  Egypt.  We  all  know  what  grand  and  inter- 
esting results  the  observations  and  excavations  of  the  learned, 
aided  by  the  deciphering  of  the  hieroglyphical  writings,  have 
brought  to  light  in  that  primitive  land  of  marvels,  the  source  of 
all  the  arts  and  sciences;  and  I  will  therefore  only  mention  that 
all  these  results  have  been  thrown  into  the  shade  by  the  recent 
discoveries  of  M.  Mariette,  who  has  found  sculptures,  inscrip- 
tions and  statues  dating  back  to  no  less  than  from  4000  to  4500 
years  B.  C.  He  also  discovered  pictures  and  inscriptions  upon 
the  walls  of  the  tombs  of  that  time,  which  leave  no  doubt,  that 
even  at  that  far  distant  period  a  comparatively  high  state  of 
civilization  must  have  existed  in  Egypt. 

We  may  judge  of  the  high  idea  the  Greeks  must  have  had  of 
the  civilization  and  power  of  Egypt,  when  we  find  Homer,  (800 
B.  C),  in  the  Iliad  speaking  with  great  admiration  of  the 
Egyptian  Thebes  with  its  hundred  gates,  from  each  of  which 
two  hundred  chariots  went  forth  to  battle,  (and  Memphis  was 
much  more  ancient);  and  Achilles  cries:  "Not  if  you  offered 
me  the  wealth  of  the  Egyptian  Thebes  with  its  hundred  doors, 
would  I  stir  from  this  place  ! ' '  Consider  also  the  pyramids  of 
Egypt,  forty  and  more  in  number,  which  could  only  be  the 
result  of  the  industry  of  a  thousand  years,  and  must  be  regarded 
as  the  monuments  of  a  long  line  of  royal  races  which  have  sunk 


OUR    ORIGIN.  ■      67 

one  by  one  into  the  tomb.  And  this  agrees  perfectly  with  the 
mythical  history  of  the  Egyptians,  which  commences  many 
thousands  of  years  before  their  historical  era,  the  latter  begin- 
ning only  with  Menes,  the  first  historical  king  of  Egypt,  five 
thousand  years  B.  C*  These  traditions  of  the  most  ancient 
civilized  peoples,  reaching  as  they  do  so  far  back  in  time,  con- 
sequently agree  perfectly  with  the  teachings  of  modern  science, 
and  show  that  some  recolledlion,  however  obscure,  of  a  far 
distant  past  must  have  been  retained  in  the  memory  of  these 
peoples.  Thus  even  if  all  the  geological  and  palaeontological 
evidence  which  has  been  brought  forward  to  prove  the  high 
antiquity  of  the  human  race  should  be  denied  credence,  this 
circumstance  alone,  in  conjunction  with  the  perfe6lly  demon- 
strated high  degree  of  civilization  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  at 
least  six  thousand  years  ago,  must  convince  us  that  the  opinion 
hitherto  prevalent  and  founded  upon  biblical  authority,  namely, 
that  the  human  race  is  not  more  than  six  thousand  years  old, 
cannot  possibly  be  correct.  The  adoption  of  such  an  opinion 
can  only  be  explained  by  the  profound  ignorance  which  formerly 
prevailed  as  to  the  prehistoric  periods  of  the  human  race. 
These  were  enveloped  in  complete  and  impenetrable  darkness, 
illuminated  by  no  single  ray  of  light;  but  nowadays  this  is  all 
changed,  and  a  new  science,  called  archceogeology  by  Boucher 
de  Perthes,  (a  combination  of  geology  and  palaeontology  with 
archaeology),  has  already  thrown  a  satisfactory  light  upon  those 
periods,  and  in  course  of  time  will  illuminate  them  still  more. 
Probably  many  of  my  readers  will  ask  here  :  But  how  is  it  that 
there  is  no  historical  evidence  of  this  [long  period  which  we 
ca\\  prehistoric  f  Why  is  this  subject  enveloped  in  an  obscurity 
so  complete  that  we  have  no  dire(51:  information  upon  it  <*  The 
answer  to  these  questions  is  not  difficult. 

It  is  evident  that  the  state  of  prehistoric  man  was  one  of 
primitive  and  natural  barbarism,   in  which  he  neither  felt  the 

*  See  Appendix  No.  9. 


68      ■  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

necessity,  nor  possessed  the  means  of  handing  down  historical 
traditions.  These  means  could  only  be  furnished  by  the  inven- 
tion of  the  art  of  writing,  which  took  place  at  a  very  late  period, 
and  is  in  itself  very  complicated.  Until  then,  only  oral  tradition 
was  known,  and  this  indeed  has  existed  from  very  ancient  times. 
But  even  this  could  only  prevail  to  a  very  limited  extent,  ham- 
pered as  it  would  be  by  the  deficiencies  of  an  imperfectly 
developed  language  and  by  the  want  of  materials  worthy  of 
transmission.  The  life  of  the  primitive  man  was  no  doubt  of 
the  greatest  simplicity  and  uniformity,  and,  according  to  our 
ideas,  most  wretchedly  tedious.  It  was  an  uninterrupted  and 
miserable  strife  with  savage  animals  and  with  innumerable  hard- 
ships of  the  external  world  !  The  combats  of  primeval  man 
with  the  large  animals  of  the  Diluvial  or  the  Tertiary  period 
may  certainly  have  had  in  them  much  that  was  striking  and 
worthy  of  being  handed  down  to  posterity,  and  we  know  that 
in  fact,  contests  with  animals  play  a  very  prominent  part  in  the 
earliest  legendary  chronicles  of  all  anciently  civilized  peoples. 
It  has  therefore  often  been  supposed,  and  probably  with  justice, 
that  these  legends  may  not  be  wholly  poetical  and  imaginative, 
but  that  they  may  be  founded  at  all  events  partially  in  truth, 
and  especially  that  the  well-known  terrible  narrations  of  fearful 
batdes  with  Dragons,  monsters  and  wonderfully  formed  animals 
of  enormous  size,  may  in  part  have  originated  in  the  fact  that  man 
really  saw  and  fought  with  the  large  and  sometimes  curiously 
constructed  animals  of  the  Diluvium  or  Tertiary  period. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  nevertheless  certain  that  man  in  his 
rude,  primitive  and  natural  state  was  quite  incapable  of  having 
a  history,  and  that  he  must  have  struggled  up  to  a  certain  and 
not  very  low  degree  of  civilization,  before  he  would  experience 
the  desire  and  obtain  the  means  of  communicating  his  experi- 
ences to  posterity  in  a  durable  form.  That  this  is  not  a  mere 
theory,  but  the  actual  fact,  may  be  seen  clearly  from  the  condi- 
tion of  existing  savages,  who  have  lived  from  time  immemorial 


OUR    ORIGIN.  69 

in  nearly  the  same  state,  and  at  any  rate  without  any  real  or 
written  history.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  condition  of 
our  existing  savages  furnishes  the  best  picture  we  can  have  of 
the  primitive  condition  of  man,  and  that  there  is  an  almost  per- 
fect analogy  between  the  two  conditions.  All  the  narratives  of 
travelers  show  that  there  is  a  wonderful  resemblance  in  the 
weapons  and  other  implements,  the  customs,  and  the  mode  of 
life  of  the  savage  peoples  visited  by  them,  to  those  of  primeval 
man,  so  far  as  we  can  make  out  the  state  of  the  latter  from  his 
scanty  remains.* 

This  leads  us  quite  naturally  to  the  second  and  last  part  of 
this  se6lion  —  to  those  questions  as  to  the  primitive  state  and 
primitive  times  of  the  human  race,  which  follow  immediately 
from  our  investigations  into  its  antiquity.  How  was  our  oldest 
ancestor  —  the  primitive  man  —  constituted  both  physically  and 
morally  ?  what  did  he  do  ?  how  did  he  live  ?  wherewith  did  he 
clothe  and  feed  himself?  How  did  he  make  his  gradual  progress 
towards  civilization  ?    And  what  can  we  deduce  from  these  re- 

*  In  speaking  of  certain  prehistoric  discoveries  made  in  Britain,  Bernard  Owen 
expressed  himself  as  follows  to  the  Anthropological  Society  of  London  ?  "In  the 
spear  and  arrow-heads  from  Caithness,  the  resemblance  to  the  American  weapons 
in  material,  form  and  size,  and  especially  in  the  mode  of  attachment  to  the  shaft, 
is  so  great,  that  the  two  are  scarcely  distinguishable." 

Of  the  Mexican  Indians  we  know  that  they  still  bleed  themselves  with  lancets 
of  obsidian,  (Brasseur);  and  eye-witnesses  describe  how  the  existing  Tasmanians 
select  a  suitable  flat  stone  from  the  ground,  strike  fragments  from  it,  and  employ 
it  at  once  as  an  implement. 

We  are  acquainted  with  stone-implements  from  America  which  are  even  very 
similar  to  the  most  ancient  Drift -implements.  Indeed  the  working  of  stone  is  so 
simple  that  we  cannot  wonder  that  stone-implements  from  almost  all  countries, 
(Europe,  Asia,  America  and  Australia,)  should  be  strikingly  similar  in  appearance. 
The  stone  age  has  prevailed  in  every  great  region  of  the  inhabited  world,  and 
still  partially  persists  in  America,  Australia,  &c.;  for  there  are  races  enough  who 
have  never  been  acquainted  with  the  use  of  metals.  Nay,  plenty  of  savage  tribes 
have  been  found  who  had  no  knowledge  even  of  the  use  of  fire;  and  until  the 
arrival  of  Europeans,  the  Australians  knew  nothing  about  cooking  or  boiling 
food.  Their  nourishment  consisted  principally  of  marine  animals  which  were 
devoured  raw,  just  as  was  the  case  with  the  ancient  builders  of  the  kitchen- 
middens  or  shell-mounds.  In  Tierradel  Fuego  and  in  Brazil,  moreover,  extensive 
and  perfectly y'r^'i-/;  shell-heaps  of  the  kind  above  described  are  still  to  be  found. 


70  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

searches  into  the  primitive  existence  of  man,  which  upset  every- 
thing previously  regarded  as  true,  and  open  to  us  a  view  into 
an  immensely  distant  past  hitherto  completely  enveloped  in 
obscurity, — what  can  we  deduce  from  these  with  regard  to  our 
proper  subject,  namely,  the  position  of  man  in  nature  and  the 
important  question,  Whence  do  we  come? 

It  is  true  that  to  enter  upon  this  field  is  so  far  an  uncertain 
and  dangerous  course,  that  with  regard  to  most  points  we  have 
to  depend  rather  on  assumptions,  conclusions  from  analogy  and 
the  like,  than  on  direct  knowledge,  and  thus  fancy  must  more 
or  less  lend  its  aid  to  reason  in  testing  and  arranging  the 
evidence.  Nevertheless,  we  possess  a  series  of  certain  data 
which  may  furnish  us  with  a  tolerably  perfe6l  notion  of  the 
condition  of  primitive  man,  and  of  his  excessively  slow  progress 
through  the  lapse  of  thousands  of  years  to  his  gradual  perfec- 
tion and  ennoblement.  And  this  is  especially  the  case  when 
we  call  in  to  our  assistance  the  numerous  observations  which 
have  been  made  on  existing  savage  tribes,  in  which,  as  already 
indicated,  we  have  before  us  a  very  distinct  and  instructive  pro- 
totype or  representation  for  enabling  us  to  judge  of  the  condi- 
tion of  our  most  ancient  human  ancestors.  In  all  probability, 
however,  the  general  condition  of  primeval  man  was  still  lower 
and  more  imperfect  than  even  that  of  our  most  barbarous  sav- 
ages. From  the  earliest  period  of  his  existence  known  to  us, 
he  has  left  behind  him  nothing  in  the  shape  of  weapons  or  im- 
plements, except  those  rough  stone  wedges  already  described, 
which  were  produced  by  merely  striking  together  nodules  of 
flint  in  their  fresh  and  readily  cleavable  state.  At  that  early 
period  he  was  unacquainted  even  with  that  first  and  most  primi- 
tive of  all  arts,  the  art  of  making  pottery,  the  indestructible 
remains  of  which  are  met  with  so  abundantly  at  a  somewhat  later 
period;  nor  had  he  then  any  of  those  implements  made  of  wood, 
horn  and  bone,  which  are  also  found  in  such  plenty  among  the 
remains  of  a  latter  date.     The  difference  between  the  man  of 


OUR   ORIGIN.  71 

the  Diluvial  and  Tertiary  period  and  the  civilized  man  of  the 
present  day,  must  therefore  have  been  still  greater  than  that 
between  the  Australian  savage  and  the  cultivated  European  of 
our  own  time, — a  difference  so  great  that  it  is  only  with  diffi- 
culty and  inward  reluctance  that  the  uninstructed  mind  can 
resolve  to  admit  a  logical  connection  between  that  period  and 
the  present,  and  takes  refuge  in  the  most  improbable  theories 
of  the  creation  of  man,  rather  than  accept  the  truth  which  lies 
so  evidently  before  it.  For  upon  this  point  at  least,  our  ob- 
servations leave  no  doubt  whatever.  Man  has  not,  as  the  old 
conception  of  the  universe  represents  him,  descended  upon  the 
earth  from  heaven  as  a  child  of  paradise,  a  finished  and  to  a 
certain  extent  perfect  being,  but,  like  all  the  rest  of  the  organic 
world,  he  has  gradually  been  developed  in  the  course  of  many 
thousands  of  years  and  of  innumerable  generations,  commencing 
his  existence  as  a  rude  savage,  scarcely  above  the  grade  of 
animality,  and  almost  crushed  by  the  forces  of  external  nature. 
Naked,  or  poorly  clad  in  the  skins  of  animals  or  the  bark  of 
trees,  living  singly,  or  in  isolated  famihes  in  forests,  caverns 
and  clefts  of  the  rocks,  or  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  and  armed  only 
with  his  wretched  stone-wedges,  this  savage  or  primitive  man  had 
to  maintain  an  almost  unceasing  struggle  with  the  overpowering 
forces  of  nature  which  surrounded  him,  and  with  the  powerful 
animals  of  the  Diluvial  or  Tertiary  period.*  Out  of  this  contest 
he  certainly  would  not  have  come  as  a  conqueror,  (perhaps, 

*  It  has  often  been  considered  impossible  or  inconceivable  that  the  most  ancient 
men,  with  their  wretched  weapons,  could  have  held  their  ground  before  the 
gigantic  animals  of  the  past.  But  a  glance  at  the  still  existing  savages  of 
America,  Africa  and  Australia,  who  likewise  venture,  with  their  simple  and 
imperfect  weapons,  to  attack  the  most  formidable  animals,  and  even  combat 
them  victoriously,  may  teach  us  better.  "Those  must  be  blind,"  says  J.  P. 
Lesley  "who  cannot  recognize  the  traces  of  this  long,  hard,  desperate,  bloody 
and  diabolically  cruel  contest  between  the  first  men  and  all  the  adverse  forces  of 
the  air  and  the  earth,  a  contest  in  which  all  the  advantages  were  on  the  side  of 
Nature,  and  in  which,  nevertheless,  man  conquered,  because  the  powers  of  mind 
and  reason  came  to  his  assistance.  When  we  consider  what  the  weapons  and 
implements  of  the  primitive  man  were,  our  astonishment  that  civilization  ever 
found  a  time  and  a  starting  point  must  be  increased." 


72  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

indeed,  he  would  never  have  begun  it),  if  he  had  not  been 
supported  by  his  comparatively  great  intellectual  power.  For, 
as  regards  his  bodily  powers,  these  were  scarcely  greater  and 
probably  less  than  those  of  men  of  the  present  day. 

The  widely  spread  belief  in  the  former  existence  of  a  race  of 
human  giants  is  perfectly  erroneous,  and,  as  already  stated, 
depends  solely  upon  the  discovery  of  the  bones  of  gigantic 
animals  which  were  confounded  with  those  of  men.  It  is  true 
that  some  very  ancient  human  skeletons  or  parts  of  skeletons 
have  been  found,  which  must  have  belonged  to  comparatively 
large  and  very  muscular  men,  such,  for  example,  as  the  skeleton 
of  the  famous  Neanderthal  man,  and  the  human  bones  recently 
found  by  M.  Louis  Lartet  in  one  of  the  caverns  of  Perigord, 
(Les  Eyzies),  and  probably  belonging  to  the  period  of  the 
Mammoth,  which  seem  to  indicate  a  rude,  but  strong  and  mus- 
cular race  of  men,  with  an  approximation  in  the  structure  of  the 
bones  to  the  type  of  the  apes,  and  with  prognathous  jaws,  but 
nevertheless  with  a  comparatively  good  development  of  the 
brain.  On  the  other  hand,  most  of  the  discoveries  of  the  so- 
called  Quaternary  period  indicate  a  small  race,  with  a  narrow 
skull  and  prognathous  jaws,  and  therefore  of  a  type  resembling 
that  of  the  Negroes  or  Mongols.  In  the  most  ancient  period 
of  the  Mammoth  and  Cave  Bear,  the  men,  according  to  Brocca, 
^Rapport  de  i86§  —  6'j'),  were  not  of  large  stature,  had  a  narrow 
head  with  a  retreating  forehead,  and  oblique,  (prognathous), 
jaws,  in  fact  a  general  conformation  of  the  body  such  as  is  now 
approximately  met  with  in  the  lowest  races  of  Australia  and 
New  Caledonia.  This  is  proved  particularly  by  the  ape-like 
human  jaw  from  La  Naulette  which  will  be  described  hereafter, 
and  by  the  analogous  bones  found  by  the  Marquis  de  Vibraye 
in  the  cave  of  Arcis-sur-Aube.  But  the  existence  of  this  rude 
and  small  type  of  man  lasted  until  a  much  later  period  of  pre- 
historic time,  namely  into  the  so-called  Reindeer  period,  as  is 
proved  especially  by   the  discoveries   made  in  the  numerous 


OUR    ORIGIN.  73 

caves  of  the  Belgian  province  of  Namur,  which  were  examined  by 

a  special  scientific  commission  by  the  orders  and  at  the  expense  of 
the  Belgian  government.  The  report  of  this  commission,  dated 
March  26,  1865,  states  that  besides  great  quantities  of  partially 
worked  Reindeer  horns  and  bones,  flint  instruments,  black 
pottery,  shell  ornaments,  etc.,  etc.,  there  were  found  a  great 
number  of  human  bones,  all  of  which  must  have  belonged  to 
men  of  small  stature,  in  this  respect  most  closely  agreeing  with 
the  existing  Laplanders.  The  remains  of  fourteen  individuals 
found  in  the  Trou  de  Frontal,  as  already  mentioned,  like  the 
human  bones  in  the  cave  of  Aurignac,  indicate  a  smaller  race 
than  that  now  in  existence.  The  report  prepared  by  M.  E. 
Dupont  describes  the  Belgian  cave-man  as  "petit,  bien  muscle, 
vif  et  maladif 

That  a  similar  small  race  must  have  continued  to  exist  even 
during  the  Bronze-period,  which  followed  the  Stone-age,  and  in 
which  man  had  already  learnt  the  arts  of  alloying  and  working 
in  metals,  is  proved  by  the  well-known  small  size  of  the  handles 
of  the  bronze  weapons.  This  fact  had  struck  archaeologists 
generally,  long  before  anything  was  known  of  Diluvial  man. 

If  the  primitive  man  was  thus  so  inferior  even  in  corporeal 
attributes  to  the  men  of  the  present  day,*  this  was  still  more 
strikingly  the  case  with  regard  to  his  intellectual  capacities. 
Although  his  mental  powers  enabled  the  primitive  man,  not- 
withstanding his  comparative  bodily  weakness,  to  come  off 
victorious  in  his  contests  with  animals  which  exceeded  him 
greatly  in  size  and  strength,  these  faculties  can  nevertheless 
only  have  been  of  the  most  imperfect  and  undeveloped  kind 
when  compared  with  the  general  intellectual  culture  of  the 
existing  generation.  This  indeed  is  demonstrated  by  numer- 
ous discoveries  of  ancient  and  primeval  human  skulls  in  the 
most  various  parts  of  the  world,  as  these,  almost  without  excep- 
tion, when  they  belong  to  a  tolerably  high  antiquity,   show  a 

*  See  Appendix  No.  lo. 


74  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND   FUTURE. 

rude  or  undeveloped  form,  and,  in  accordance  therewith,  a 
comparatively  small  development  of  the  brain.  In  some  respects 
they  remarkably  approach  the  type  of  the  lowest  of  existing 
races  of  men,  that  of  the  barbarous  aborigines  of  Africa  or 
Australia.     Among  such  the  following  may  be  cited  : 

The  numerous  negro-like  skulls  from  the  Belgian  caves  found 
by  Spring  and  Schmerling;*  the  so-called  Borreby  skull  from 
Denmark  ;t  the  skull  which  was  discovered  by  Link  among 
those  collected  by  Schlotheim  from  the  gypsum -caves  near 
Kostritz  and  which  was  remarkable  for  the  singular  flattening 
of  its  forehead;  the  skulls  of  similar  form  discovered  by  Lund 
in  a  Brazilian  bone  cave  mixed  with  the  remains  of  extinct 
animals;  that  found  by  Castelnau  under  the  same  conditions  in 
the  rocky  caverns  of  the  Peruvian  Andes,  which  had  a  similar 
form  and  was  much  elongated  behind;  J  the  skull,  already  men- 
tioned, resembling  that  of  a  Caffre  in  form  and  having  a  low, 
narrow,  receding  forehead  and  very  prominent  superciliary 
ridges,  which  was  found  in  company  with  Mammoth  bones 
near  Canstatt  in  the  year  1700,  and  is  now  preserved  in  the 
Museum  of  Stuttgart.  The  very  ancient  skull  found  in  the  Isle 
of  Portland  and  presented  a  few  years  ago  by  J.  W.  Smart  to 
the  Anthropological  Society  of  London,  also  belongs  to  this 
category  ;  it  had  its  bones  very  thick,  exhibited  very  prominent 
orbits  and  was  altogether  of  so  low  a  type  that  it  resembled  the 

*See  Appendix  No.  ii. 

t  These  skulls,  found  in  the  tumuli  of  Borreby  and  belonging  to  the  stone  age 
of  Denmark,  are  small,  round,  and  brachycephalic  ;  they  have  a  retreating  fore- 
head, a  declivous  occiput,  a  depressed  vertex  and  projecting  supraorbital  arches. 
They  resemble  no  other  European  race,  except  perhaps  the  Lapps  or  Finns. 

I  A  strongly  receding  forehead  always  indicates  a  small  or  low  development  of 
the  brain,  as  is  shown  by  the  configuration  of  the  skull  among  the  lowest  races  of 
mankind.  Frere,  whose  rich  collection  of  skulls  of  all  centuries  of  our  era  has 
been  incorporated  with  the  new  Anthropological  Museum  at  Paris,  cites  as  the 
principal  result  of  the  comparison  of  such  skulls,  that  the  more  ancient  the  type 
the  more  developed  is  the  skull  in  the  occipital  region  and  the  flatter  is  the  fore- 
head, so  that  the  transition  of  barbarous  peoples  towards  civilization  is  revealed 
by  the  increasing  elevation  of  the  frontal  region. 


Outlines  of  three  Pke-historic  European  Skulls  compareh  with  one 
from  hochelaga. 

Outer  outline,  Cro-magnon  skull;  second  outline,  Engis  skull  ;  third  outline 
(dotted),  Neanderthal  skull ;  inner  figure,  Hochelagan  skull  on  a  smaller  scale. 


OUR    ORIGIN.  75 

very  lowest  of  Negro  skulls  (see  Attthrop.  Review  for  October, 
1865.)  We  may  also  mention  the  human  skulls  of  very  low 
type  found  in  an  old  grave  in  Caithness,  among  which  there 
was  one  which  was  declared  by  several  scientific  authorities  to 
be  the  very  worst-formed  European  skull  that  they  had  seen, 
with  the  sole  exception  of  that  from  Neanderthal,* — the  skulls 
found  on  the  Cotteswold  hills  and  reported  on  by  Dr.  Birdf  in 
the  periodical  above  quoted,  (February,  1865);  the  skull  with  a 
depressed  forehead,  a  greatly  developed  occiput  and  Negro-like 

*  In  an  ancient  grave  near  Caithness  in  the  north  of  Scotland,  a  number  of 
human  skeletons  and  skulls  of  very  low  formation  were  recently  found.  The 
worst-formed  of  the  skulls  is  very  prognathous,  (oblique-toothed,  snoutlike);  its 
forehead  is  very  narrow  and  low,  the  skull  itself  depressed  and  roofiike  in  the 
middle;  the  brain  very  scanty.  With  it  there  were  six  other  skulls  more  or  less 
approaching  the  type  just  described,  and  all  showing  in  the  middle  the  rooflike 
projection.  Probably  these  primitive  men  were  cannibals,  as  would  appear  from 
the  judgment  of  Professor  Owen  upon  one  of  the  human  bones  found,  which  was 
split  up.  The  skulls  themselves,  according  to  Laing,  approach  most  nearly  to  the 
African  type. 

Similar  low-formed  skulls  were  also  found  on  the  Shetland  islands.  (See  the 
details  in  the  Anthropological  Review^  February,  1865,  page  xxxiv). 

Professor  Wilson,  who,  as  already  stated,  has  made  a  thorough  study  of  the 
prehistoric  times  of  Scotland,  and  has  proved  that  before  the  immigration  of  the 
Celts,  two  or  three  generations  of  aborigines  must  have  preceded  them  there,  de- 
scribes the  Scotch  primeval  man  from  his  investigations  as  follows  :  •'Intellectually, 
he  seems  to  have  occupied  the  lowest  grade  to  which  an  intelligent  being  can 
possibly  sink ;  morally,  he  was  the  slave  of  superstitious  ideas  ;  and  lastly,  cor- 
poreally, he  did  not  differ  much  from  the  present  inhabitants  of  the  same  country, 
with  the  exception  of  tlie  miserable  development  of  his  brain."  Nevertheless  the 
stone  weapons  found  in  the  Scotch  graves  of  this  period,  rough  as  they  may  be, 
are  still  far  beyond  those  of  the  Diluvium,  which  are  larger  and  ruder  and  indicate 
a  race  of  men  which  may  indeed  have  been  stronger,  but  which  occupied  a  lower 
position. 

■f  One  of  the  graves  on  the  Cotteswold  Hills  near  Cheltenham  contained,  ac- 
cording to  Bird's  report,  the  bones  of  several  individuals  with  long  oval  heads  and 
narrow  foreheads.  These  skulls  were  strongly  developed  behind,  but  narrow  and 
low  in  front,  and  contracted  in  the  forehead.  The  frontal  sinuses  and  eyebrows 
project  and  present  above  a  wide  and  deep  depression  of  the  forehead.  The  jaws 
are  strongly  developed  and  the  teeth  very  much  worn  away.  The  frontal  suture 
did  not  occur  in  many  skulls  of  children  ! 

Another  grave  contained  the  bones  of  eight  human  beings,  (adults  and  children), 
with  well-developed  heads.  With  them  were  found  implements  of  stone  and  bone 
and  old  pottery. 


76  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

type,  described  by  Professor  Cocchi,  from  the  Valley  of  the  Arno 
near  Florence,  (see  note,  page  46,)  etc.,  etc. 

All  these  discoveries,  together  with  a  great  many  others 
which  could  not  be  particularized  here,  are,  however,  surpassed 
in  interest  and  importance  by  the  celebrated  Neanderthal  skull 
which  has  already  been  referred  to.  This  was  found  in  1856, 
associated  with  an  undoubtedly  fossil  skeleton  in  a  limestone 
cavern  of  the  Neanderthal  near  Hochdal,  (between  Diisseldorf 
and  Elberfeld),  and  has  been  carefully  examined  and  described 
by  Drs.  Fuhlrott  and  Schaaffhausen. 

It  has  a  very  narrow,  flat  and  surprisingly  depressea  lore- 
head,  whilst  the  orbits  and  surpraciliary  ridges  are  developed 
and  prominent  to  a  degree  such  as  has  never  been  observed  in 
any  other  human  skull.  This  particular  conformation  must 
have  given  the  face  of  the  Neanderthal  man  a  frightfully  bestial 
and  savage,  or  ape-like  expression.  The  rest  of  the  skeleton 
to  which  the  skull  belonged  also  presented  many  resemblances 
in  its  structure  to  the  osseous  framework  of  the  lower  races  of 
men.  The  ridges  and  crests  especially,  which  served  as  points 
of  insertion  for  the  muscles,  are  very  strongly  developed,  so 
that  we  may  conclude  that  their  possessor  was  a  very  strong 
and  muscular,  if  a  very  savage  man.  This  remarkable  discovery 
naturally  created  much  sensation  in  the  learned  world  beyond 
Germany,  especially  in  England  and  France,  where  many 
plaster  casts  of  the  skull  were  distributed.  In  England  the  dis- 
tinguished Professor  Huxley,  after  careful  examination,  declared 
the  Neanderthal  skull  to  be  the  most  bestial  and  ape-like  in 
existence,  corresponding  most  nearly  with  the  skulls  of  the 
Australians.  Professor  Schaaffhausen  expresses  himself  in  the 
same  fashion.  In  1864,  at  the  Congress  of  Naturalists  at  Giessen 
he  declared,  in  opposition  to  other  interpretations,  that  the 
Neanderthal  skull  represented  a  race-type,  and  that  the  entire 
and  undoubtedly  fossil  skeleton,  which  precluded  the  supposition 
of  idiocy,  exhibited  a  number  of  characteristics  such  as  have 


OUR    ORIGIN. 


77 


been  of  late  years  observed  in  the  skeletons  of  very  low  races 
of  men.  He  maintained  finally,  that  the  skull  and  skeleton 
must  undoubtedly  have  belonged  to  one  of  the  Autochthones, 
or  primitive  inhabitants  of  Europe,  living  before  the  Indo- 
Germanic  immigration.*  As  a  matter  of  course  many  objections 
were  raised  to  this  interpretation  of  the  remains,  on  the  part  of 
those  who  had  an  interest  in  invalidating  this  important  piece 
of  evidence,  but  these  produced  no  result.  The  chief  objection 
raised  by  those  who  were  not  accurately  informed  upon  the 
subject,  was  founded  on  the  supposition  that  the  discovery  in 
the  Neanderthal  was  an  isolated  one,  and  that  the  peculiar  and 
unexampled  form  of  the  skull  was  to  be  explained  away  as  ab- 
normal or  exceptional.  But  in  reality  this  is  so  far  from  being 
the  case  that  Professor  Huxley  was  quite  justified  in  declaring 
that  the  Neanderthal  skull  is  by  no  means  so  isolated  as  it 

■•'  The  first  account  of  the  Neanderthal  skull  was  given  by  Dr.  Schaaffhausen  at 
the  Meeting  of  the  Natural  History  Society  of  the  Lower  Rhine  on  February  4, 
1857,  from  a  plaster  cast  prepared  in  Elberfeld.     He  even  then  stated  that  it  bore 
no  traces  of  artificial  deformation,  but  was  to  be  regarded  as  a  natural  formation, 
which  in  the  strong  prominence  of  the  upper  supraciliary  region,  caused  by  the 
extension  of  the  frontal  sinuses,  showed  the  human  type  in  such  a  low  stage  of 
development  as  could  hardly  be  found  among  the  rudest  of  living  races  of  men. 
Dr.  Fuhlrott  of  Elberfeld,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  preservation  of  these 
bones,  (which  were  at  first  regarded  as  those  of  some  animal),  afterwards  brought 
them  to  Bonn  for  the  purpose  of  being  accurately  examined  anatomically,  and  on 
June  2,  1857,  he  gave  a  detailed  description  of  the  place  where  they  were  found 
and  of  the  discovery  itself  before  the  general  meeting  of  the  Natural  History  Society 
of  Rhenish  Prussia  and  Westphalia.     The  details,  together  with  a  comparative 
summary  of  all  that  had  been  previously  published  in  books  and  journals  upon 
the  Neanderthal  Skull,  will  be  found  in  Dr.   Fuhlrott's  Memoir  already  cited  : 
Der/ossile  Mensch  aus  deni  Neanderthal,  &'c. ,  (Duisburg,  1865).     All  the  attempts 
that  have  been  made,  (by  Meyer,  Wetgner,  Blake,  Pruner-Bey,  Davis  and  others  ) 
to  diminish  or  bring  in  question  the  value  of  this  discovery  with  respect  to  the 
primeval  history  of  man,  by  giving  it  a  different  interpretation,  must  from  this 
and  from  the  explanations  given  by  Prof.   Schaaffhausen  in  his  memoir,    Zur 
Kenntniss  der  altesten  Rassenschadel,  be  regarded  as  completely  unsuccessful 
Schaaffhausen  says  :  "  To  regard  the  unusual  development  of  the  frontal  sinuses 
in  the  remarkable  skull  from  the  Neanderthal  as  only  an  individual  or  patho- 
logical (morbid)  deviation,  there  is  not  the  slightest  reason ;  it  is  unmistakably  a 
race-type,  and  stands  in  physiological  agreement  with  the  remarkable  strength  of 
the  bones  of  the  rest  of  the  skeleton." 


78  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

might  appear  to  be  at  the  first  glance,  but  that  it  truly  forms 
only  the  extreme  vicmber  of  a  series  leaditig  by  slow  degrees  to 
tlie  highest  afid  best  developed  for 7ns  of  human  skulls. 

The  Borreby  skulls  belonging  to  the  stone-age  of  Denmark 
are  especially  considered  by  Huxley  to  show  a  great  resem- 
blance to  the  Neanderthal  skull,  a  resemblance  which  is  mani- 
fested in  the  depression  of  the  cranium,  the  receding  forehead, 
the  contracted  occiput  and  the  prominent  supraciliary  ridges. 
The  same  may  be  said,  more  or  less,  of  the  other  remains  of 
skulls  mentioned  in  our  preceding  enumeration,  as  well  as  of  a 
great  number  of  skulls  and  fragments  of  skulls  found,  (with 
bones),  chiefly  in  the  north  of  Europe,  which  are  cited  in  detail 
by  Professor  Schaaff"hausen  in  his  important  memoir.  Towards 
the  knowledge  of  the  skulls  of  the  7nost  ancient  races.  In  all 
these,  similar  characters  were  observable,  although  in  a  less 
degree.  In  nearly  all  these  crania  the  strong  projection  of  the 
supraciliary  ridges  and  the  low,  flat,  receding  forehead  are 
expressly  noticed  as  characteristic   peculiarities.*      But  if  we 

*  "  It  is  worthy  of  notice,"  says  Prof.  Schaaffhausen  in  the  memoir  cited  in  the 
text,  "that  a  similar,  although  smaller  projection  of  the  supraciliary  arches  has 
generally  been  found  in  the  skulls  of  savage  races,  as  well  as  in  very  ancient 
skulls.''  Then  follows  a  long  enumeration  of  such  cases  from  which  we  select  the 
following  as  the  most  noteworthy  :  "  The  remarkably  small  skull  from  the  graves 
on  the  island  of  Moen,  examined  by  Prof.  Eschricht ;  the  two  human  skulls, 
described  by  Dr.  Kutorga,  from  the  government  of  Minsk,  (Russia),  one  of  which, 
especially,  shows  a  great  resemblance  to  the  Neanderthal  skull ;  the  human 
skeleton  found  near  Plau  in  Mecklenburg  in  a  very  ancient  grave  in  a  squatting 
position,  and  associated  with  implements  manufactured  of  bone,  with  regard  to 
which  Dr.  Lisch  remarks,  that  "  the  formation  of  the  skull  indicates  a  very  distant 
period,  when  man  stood  on  a  very  low  grade  of  development ;"  and  a  similar 
discovery  in  another  ancient  grave  in  Mecklenburg  (the  Kegelgrab  of  Schwaan), 
in  which  the  remains  of  no  fewer  than  eight  bodies  were  found  together  in  a 
squatting  position  in  the  original  soil,  and  their  skulls  likewise  presented  short, 
retreating  foreheads  and  projecting  eyebrows." 

A  number  of  further  proofs  of  the  low  development  of  the  skull  and  brain  in  the 
primeval  man  are  cited  by  the  same  author  in  a  quite  recent  memoir  :  On  the primi- 
tive/orm  of  the  htunan  skull,  (1868),  which  he  concludes  with  tlie  following  words  : 

"  From  what  has  just  been  under  consideration  we  may  regard  it  as  beyond  doubt 
that  a  skull,  which  does  not  bear  the  signs  of  a  low  organization,  cannot  be  regarded 
as  derived  from  primeval  man,  even  though  it  may  have  been  found  among  the  bones 
of  extinct  animals.  But  it  is  further  clear  that  we  must  now  place  the  man  of  the 
primeval  time  a  step  lower  than  the  rudest  savages  of  the  actual  world." 


OUR    ORIGIN.  79 

leave  out  of  the  account  the  last  mentioned  character  of  the 
prominent  supraciliary  ridges,  we  have  in  the  Peruvian  skull  of 
one  of  the  Titicaca  race  obtained  by  Baron  von  Bibra  from  an 
ancient  tomb  at  Algodon  Bay  in  Bolivia,  and  brought  by  him  to 
Europe,  a  form  which,  in  its  excessively  small  size,  the  narrow- 
ness and  lowness  of  its  forehead,  which  indeed  is  almost  entirely 
deficient,  and  its  elongated  occipital  region,  exceeds  even  the 
Neanderthal  skull  in  animality  and  inferiority  of  conformation. 
Bibra  says  that  it  has  more  analogy  with  the  skull  of  a  monkey 
than  with  that  of  a  man,  and  the  chemical  examination  that  he 
made  of  its  bones  indicates  that  it  is  of  a  very  high  antiquity.* 

From  all  these  facts,  and  from  many  other  discoveries  of 
human  bones,  including  a  great  number  of  lower  jaws  of  very 
bestial  form,  which  will  be  more  particularly  referred  to  here- 
after, we  may  conclude  with  certainty,  that  our  most  ancient 
European  ancestor,  or  the  primitive  man  in  all  countries,  must 
have  been  almost  infinitely  inferior  to  our  existing  race  of  men 
both  corporeally  and  intellectually, — in  other  words,  he  must 
have  been  an  extremely  barbarous  and  perhaps  almost  dumb 
savage,  who  worked  his  way  up  to  a  certain  degree  of  civiliza- 
tion and  made  actual  intellectual  progress  by  extremely  slow 
degrees  and  by  means  of  almost  inconceivable  eflforts,  impelled 
thereto  either  by  his  own  faculties  or  by  influences  from  with- 
out. Nay,  from  the  obsen^ations  now  before  us,  it  would  almost 
seem,  that  for  thousands  of  years  scarcely  any  progress  of  this 
kind  was  made.     At  least  according  to  the  calculations  of  Lyell 

*  Even  this  skull  is  not  isolated,  but  it  resembles  many  skulls  from  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Titicaca  lake  in  Peru,  which  all,  according  to  Bibra,  have  a  greater 
resemblance  to  the  skull  of  an  ape  than  to  other  human  skulls.  They  usually 
have  in  the  middle  a  blunt,  comb-like  elevation  along  the  whole  length  of  the 
skull,  and  are  so  badly  formed  that  they  were  long  regarded  as  artificially  de- 
formed, which,  however,  is  certainly  not  the  case  with  the  skull  brought  home  by 
Bibra.  In  Algodon  Bay,  Bibra  found  thirty  to  forty  tumuli  in  which  human 
bodies  of  a  small  race  were  put  together  in  a  squatting  posture.  They  belonged 
to  an  old  Peruvian  race,  or  to  a  people  who  chiefly  inhabited  the  region  of  the 
lake  of  Titicaca.  Most  of  the  mummies  found  in  Peru  and  Bolivia  resemble  this 
race  (See  von  Bibra,  Die  Algodon-Bay  in  Bolivia,  Vienna,  1852). 


8o  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

and  others,  (see  Appendix  No.  8,)  a  very  long  period  must 
have  elapsed  between  the  deposition  of  the  upper  and  lower 
gravel  beds  containing  flint  axes  in  the  Valley  of  the  Somme 
which  are  of  considerable  thickness.  And  yet  no  considerable, 
readily  perceptible  difference  can  be  pointed  out  between  the 
axes  from  the  upper  and  lower  beds,  so  that  the  industrial  con- 
dition of  primitive  man  must  have  remained  nearly  unchanged 
during  a  very  long  period  of  time.  There  is  indeed  some 
difference  between  the  axes,  but  it  is  so  slight  as  to  be  recog- 
nizable, according  to  Lyell,  only  by  the  eye  of  the  practised 
observer,  whilst  the  uninitiated  can  see  nothing  of  it.  It  has, 
however,  been  observed  that  the  so-called  oval  forms  predomin- 
ate over  the  elongated  ones  in  the  deeper  beds.*  With  more 
accurate  knowledge  and  more  abundant  material  we  shall  no 

*  At  the  anthropological  congress  in  Paris  in  1867.  M.  Reboux  stated  that  he  had 
examined  more  than  a  thousand  flint  axes  collected  in  the  evirons  of  Paris  near  the 
Seine  (at  Perret,  Clichy,  Batignolles  and  Neuilly),  and  distinguished  among  them 
three  kinds,  namely,  split  off,  chipped  and  polished.  According  to  him  the  split- 
off  axes  or  chips  lay  lowest  down  and  the  polished  ones  uppermost,  and  they  were 
never  mixed  together.  All  this,  however,  was  received  with  doubt  by  the  Con- 
gress. On  the  other  hand,  Professor  Broca  in  his  Report  of  1867,  which  has  been 
so  often  mentioned,  stated  that  the  gradual  improvement  of  the  flint  axes  of 
Abbeville,  (in  the  Valley  of  the  Somme,)  had  been  clearly  shown  by  Gabriel  de 
Mortillet.  In  the  lowest  beds  they  are  lance-shaped  and  of  large  size.  In  the 
gravelly  sand  which  covers  the  Diluvium  and  in  which  no  Mammoth  bones  are  to 
be  found,  they  are  elliptical,  elongated  and  of  smaller  size.  Finally,  in  the  light, 
superficial  soil  of  the  declivities,  they  are  polished  and  sharpened,  like  those  which 
have  been  found  in  the  dolmens.  The  question  whether  this  improvement  was 
effected  by  internal  progress  or  by  the  arrival  of  new  peoples,  is  left  in  doubt  by 
Broca;  but  according  to  him,  the  latter  is  rendered  probable  by  the  observations 
of  Lartet  and  Christy.  The  inhabitants  of  the  caverns  of  Perigord  in  the  south 
of  France  had  already,  according  to  Broca,  attained  a  high  degree  of  dexterity 
and  made  a  great  number  of  instruments  of  bone,  ivory  and  Reindeer  horn. 
Their  drawings  even  indicate  an  artistic  feeling  which  leaves  far  behind  the  rude 
sketches  on  many  Celtic  monuments,  (and  consequently  of  much  later  date.) 
They  must  have  led  a  quiet,  contemplative  life,  and  were  probably  destroyed  by 
a  stronger,  but  ruder  people. 

Broca  regards  these  advanced  men  of  the  so-called  Reindeer  period  as  probably 
the  more  cultivated  descendants  of  the  rude  savages  of  the  diluvial  time.  But 
notwithstanding  the  progress  they  had  made  they  still  fabricated  their  stone 
implements  merely  by  the  process  of  striking  3.-a<\  without  grinding  them,  as  was 
subsequently  done  with  the  smoothed  or  polished  stones. 


OUR   ORIGIN.  8l 

doubt  eventually  succeed  in  obtaining  more  delicate  distinctions, 
and  may  thus  arrive  at  a  better  notion  of  the  gradual  course  of 
the  development  of  civilization. 

At  a  somewhat  latter  period  the  differences  in  the  stone 
weapons  become  so  considerable,  and  the  gradual  progress  in 
industrial  skill  of  the  primitive  peoples  shows  itself  so  distinctly, 
that  in  accordance  therewith  the  so-called  stone-age  has  been 
divided  into  three  distinct,  consecutive  periods  or  sections, 
characterized  chiefly  by  the  form  and  the  greater  or  less  perfec- 
tion of  the  stone  weapons  and  other  instruments.  These  are 
the  ancient,  middle  and  recent  stone-ages,  and  they  certainly 
embrace  an  enormous  lapse  of  time,  as  the  ancient  stone-age  is 
undoubtedly  intimately  connected  with  the  first  appearance  of 
man  upon  the  earth,  and  the  most  recent  age  of  stone  was  pro- 
longed far  into  the  historical  period,  and  even  continues  to  the 
present  day  among  many  savage  tribes. 

But  in  order  that  this  expression,  "the  stone-age,"  may  be 
rightly  understood,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  of  late  the 
prehistoric  periods  of  the  human  race  and  its  development  in 
civilization  have  been  generally  divided,  after  the  example  of 
Northern  savants,  into  the  ages  of  stone,  bronze  and  iro7i,  and 
that  this  division  although  often  attacked  and  doubted,  has  by 
degrees  been  fully  established  in  archaeological  science.  It  is 
true  that  the  periods  are  united  by  the  most  gradual  transitions 
from  one  to  the  other,  and  that  they  frequently  seem  to  invade 
one  another's  territories,  but  on  the  whole  they  indicate  quite 
correctly  the  gradual  progress  of  civilization,  the  true  civil- 
ized periods  commencing  only  with  the  introduction  of  iron.* 
Bronze,  an  alloy  or  mixture  of  copper  and  tin,  was  evidently  a 
much  less  perfect  material  than  iron,   the  use  of  which  alone 

*  According  to  M.  Gabriel  de  Mortillet,  a  recognized  authority,  the  first  appear- 
ance of  iron  is  completely  prehistoric,  and  the  three  periods  of  Stone,  Bronze 
and  Iron  have  very  gradually  followed  one  another,  a  all  events  in  Switzerland 
and  Italy. 


82  MAN   IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

could  have  rendered  possible  that  advance  in  civilization  which 
has  landed  us  at  our  present  stage  of  development. 

Of  course  stone  was  the  most  imperfect  material,  and  its  dis- 
placement by  bronze  or  brass  was  a  greater  step  in  advance  at 
the  time  it  occurred,  than  that  subsequently  caused  by  the  in- 
troduction of  iron. 

From  this  mode  of  division,  which  now  serves  us  as  a  measure 
for  determining  the  most  ancient  periods  of  the  human  race,  we 
see  at  once  that  in  reality  the  course  of  development  of  human 
society  has  been  the  very  opposite  of  that  imagined  by  the  poets 
of  classical  antiquity,  and  pictured  by  them  in  their  writings. 
For  while  they  represent  a  golden,  a  silver  and  an  iron  age 
following  one  another,  and  accompanied  by  a  constantly  increas- 
ing deterioration  in  the  condition  of  human  society,  in  reality 
die  very  reverse  has  taken  place.  ' '  A  life  of  perfect  indolence 
and  perpetual  serenity  was  not  the  lot  of  the  oldest  human 
inhabitants  of  our  country,  but  a  life  full  of  severe  and  heavy 
labor,  of  great  and  ceaseless  cares.  And  when  at  last  the 
bronze,  and  after  it  the  iron  age  came  in,  this  last  did  not  in- 
dicate a  growing  deterioration  in  the  conditions  of  human 
existence,  but  the  greatest  improvement,  and  the  most  rapid 
progress  that  has  been  or  could  have  been  made  towards  the 
freedom  of  man. " —  Virchow. 

However,  as  we  have  already  said,  it  must  not  be  supposed 
that  well-marked  boundaries  exist  beween  these  three  periods; 
on  the  contrary,  gradual  transitions  are  everywhere  perceptible. 
A  transitional  period  of  this  kind  must  have  occurred  especially 
between  the  ages  of  Stone  and  Bronze.  It  is  indicated  by 
numerous  tombs  and  other  places  in  which  implements  made 
of  stone  and  bronze  are  found  together.  Implements  of  pure 
copper  are  also  found  in  this  transition  period,  so  that  many 
people  have  been  inclined  to  intercalate  here  a  special  copper- 
age.  Objedls  of  bronze  and  iron  are  also  found  together  in 
many  places  ;  but  whilst  the  bronze  was  speedily  and  completely 


OUR   ORIGIN.  83 

superseded  by  iron,  the  stone- weapons  held  their  ground  much 
longer,  and  their  use  extends,  as  has  already  been  stated,  far 
down  into  historic  times.*  Perhaps  the  last  stone  weapons  may 
have  been  manufactured  with  iron  instruments,  and  it  is  said 
that  the  English  actually  fought  with  stone  implements  against 
William  the  Conqueror,  f  A  circumstance  of  great  significance 
in  the  history  of  human  development,  observed  in  this  transition 
from  stone  to  bronze  and  from  bronze  to  iron,  is  that  the  first 
bronze  weapons  were  made  exactly  after  the  pattern  of  the  old 
stone  implements,  and  in  the  same  way  also  the  earliest  imple- 
ments of  iron  after  the  pattern  of  the  bronze  implements  which 
preceded  them,  although  without  such  models  before  them  no 
one  would  have  thought  of  bringing  the  malleable  and  ductile 
metal  into  the  rough  and  inconvenient  forms  of  the  produc- 
tions of  the  stone  age.     From  this  instance  we  see  most  distindlly 

*  In  countries  out  of  Europe,  according  to  the  researches  of  Rougemont,  (L'dge 
du  Bronze,  &r'c.),  copper  seems  often  to  have  preceded  iron.  The  art  of  smelting 
iron  appears  to  be  of  very  ancient  date  in  Africa.  In  America,  (Mexico,  Peru, 
&c.),  scarcely  anything  but  copper  or  bronze  was  worked  ;  iron  was  very  rarely  or 
not  at  all  employed.  In  China  and  Japan,  however,  as  in  Europe,  we  can  dis- 
tinguish the  ages  of  stone,  bronze  and  iron.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  north  of 
Tartary  and  in  Finland  we  may  almost  say  that  there  was  an  iron  age  without 
any  copper  or  bronze. 

+  "  The  use  of  stone  weapons,  leaving  out  of  consideration  certain  savage  tribes 
of  recent  times,  was  much  in  vogue  during  historical  antiquity.  According  to 
Herodotus,  the  Ethiopian  archers  whom  Xerxes  brought  with  him  in  his  army 
against  Greece,  made  use  of  short  reed  arrows  which  had  stone  tips.  During  the 
researches  made  not  long  since  by  Francois  Lenormant  in  ancient  Attica,  an 
enormous  quantity  of  lance-heads,  made  of  flint  and  of  very  rude  manufacture, 
was  found  in  a  small  mound.  On  the  battle-field  of  Marathon,  in  the  mound 
which  the  Athenians  raised  over  the  bodies  of  those  who  had  fallen  for  their 
fatherland,  a  number  of  stone  (and  bronze)  arrow-heads  were  discovered." 
(Thovtassen,  EnthiiUungen  aus  der  Urgeschichte,  page  36    Neuwied,  1869). 

Tacitus  also,  (Germania,  Cap.  47),  relates  of  a  people  inhabiting  the  northwest 
of  ancient  Germany,  whom  he  denominates  the  Fennt,  that  in  war  they  made  use 
of  arrows  which  were  furnished  with  bone  tips.  It  is  extremely  probable  therefore 
that  this  people  also  possessed  stone  weapons.  Indeed  the  difficulty  of  obtain- 
ing iron  in  sufficient  quantities  even  after  it  was  known,  and  the  want  of  knowl- 
edge of  the  mode  of  working  it,  may  have  induced  or  compelled  many  of  the 
peoples  of  later  periods  still  to  continue  the  employment  of  stone  weapons  and 
implements. 


84  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

that  the  human  mind  cannot  produce  anything  at  once  and 
directly  from  itself,  but  that  it  is  everywhere  confined  strifUy 
to  the  laws  of  its  gradual,  sensualistic  development,  and  to  the 
nourishment  furnished  to  it  by  impressions  from  without. 
Most  certainly  we  have  no  right  to  compassionate  the  limited 
capacity  of  our  oldest  ancestor,  who  was  incapable  of  his  own 
powers  to  rise  to  the  idea  of  a  true  metallic  implement,  and 
could  only  by  degrees  observe  how  the  new  material  was  capable 
of  taking  improved  forms,  as  we  ourselves  are  every  moment 
guilty  of  the  same  fault,  but  on  a  larger  scale,  and  both  in 
material  and  intellectual  matters  can  break  loose  from  the  old 
and  antiquated  only  with  the  greatest  trouble.  Take  as  an 
instance  the  defedtive  construction  of  our  railways  and  railway 
carriages,  which  are  still  made  on  the  pattern  of  the  old  and 
inconvenient  post-roads  and  stage-coaches,  although,  with  the 
materials  now  at  our  command,  if  only  these  models  were 
thrown  aside,  the  whole  arrangement  might  be  infinitely  better 
adapted  to  its  purposes  and  rendered  less  dangerous,  more 
convenient,  and  cheaper.* 

After  all  these  digressions  we  must  return  to  our  main  subje6l, 
the  stone-age,  which  in  its  three  consecutive  phases  or  divisions 
of  the  ancient,  middle  and  recent  period,  is  best  of  all  fitted  to 
furnish  us  with  a  picture  of  the  gradually  ascending  course  of 

*  For  this  purpose  the  breadth  {Spurbreiie),  of  the  iron  rails  and  the  width  of  the 
railroad  in  general  must  above  all  be  made  much  greater ;  the  carriages,  con- 
structed in  two  stories,  must  run  not  over,  but  between  the  wheels,  with  the  lower 
story  reaching  nearly  to  the  ground ;  at  the  same  time  their  interior  must  not  be 
divided  into  little  cells  for  the  imprisonment  of  martyrs,  but  arranged  in  the  form 
of  large  and  small  saloons  fitted  up  with  all  conveniences,  and  so  as  to  facilitate 
communication  throughout  the  whole  train.  The  ingress  and  egress  of  passen- 
gers to  and  from  the  train  must  be  facilitated  and  hastened  by  means  of  movable 
platforms  standing  at  the  same  height  as  the  person;  the  ticket  offices  and  any 
others  that  may  be  necessary  must  be  placed  in  the  train  itself,  &c.  With  such  an 
arrangement,  running  off  the  line  would  become  an  impossibility,  the  detestable 
rocking  of  the  carriages  would  cease  and  their  motion  become  scarcely  perceptible, 
a  far  greater  number  of  passengers  might  be  conveyed,  (notwithstanding  the 
greatly  increased  convenience,)  more  rapidly,  more  safely,  and  cheaper,  without 
any  injury  to  health  or  personal  comfort,  even  on  the  longest  journeys,  &c. 


OUR   ORIGIN.  85 

civilization.  The  ancient  stone-period  is  characterized  by  those 
stone  axes  of  rude  form  on  the  pattern  of  those  of  Amiens, 
Abbeville,  Hoxne,  etc. ,  which  are  found  chiefly  in  the  gravelly 
or  sandy  deposits  of  former  river  beds,  but  sometimes  also  in 
caves  of  the  most  ancient  kind.  They  show  no  traces  of  fine 
work,  and  were  produced  merely  by  blows  or  taps  ;  they  are 
not  smoothed  or  polished  and  have  no  holes  for  the  handle,  no 
ornamentation,  or  anything  of  the  kind.  Associated  with  them 
we  find  no  traces  of  metal,  no  pottery  and  no  remains  of  domes- 
tic animals;  on  the  other  hand,  they  are  accompanied  by  numer- 
ous bones  of  extinct  animals  of  the  Diluvial  period,  such  as  the 
Cave  Bear,  the  Mammoth,  the  Woolly  Rhinoceros,  etc.  Sir 
John  Lubbock,  (^Prehistoric  Times,  London,  1865,)  calls  this 
the  Palaeolithic  period,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  second  or 
Neolithic  period,  and  according  to  him,  as  already  mentioned, 
about  three  thousand  flint  implements  of  this  age  have  probably 
been  found  in  the  North  of  France  and  South  of  England.  M. 
E.  Lartet  thinks  that  we  should  distinguish  in  the  Palaeolithic 
age  an  ancient  period  of  the  Cave  Bear,  and  a  more  modern  one 
of  the  Elephant  and  Rhinoceros,  but  this  distin6lion  has  been 
regarded  as  superfluous  by  other  writers,  especially  by  Carl 
Vogt.* 

According  to  Carl  Vogt,  {Archiv  filr  Anthropologie ,  1866, 
Part  I,)  the  man  of  the  oldest  stone  age,  who  must  be  regarded, 

*  Lartet's  four  epochs  of  the  Stone-age  are  therefore  the  period  of  the  Cave- 
Bear,  that  of  the  Elephant  and  Rhinoceros,  that  of  the  Reindeer  and  that  of  the 
Aurochs,  a  mode  of  division  to  which  MM.  Troyon  and  d'Archiac  adhere  in 
essential  points.  A  somewhat  different  scheme,  founded  upon  the  epochs  of 
Swiss  Glaciation,  has  been  proposed  by  Professor  Renevier  of  Lousanne  ;  it  is  as 
follows : 

1.  Preglacial  epoch,  in  which  man  lived  contemporaneously  with  Elephas 
antiquus.  Rhinoceros  homitcechus  and  the  Cave-Bear. 

2.  Glacial  epoch,  in  which  man  lived  contemporaneously  with  the  Mammoth, 
Tichorhine  Rhinoceros,  Cave-Bear,  &c. 

3.  Postglacial  epoch,  in  which  man  lived  contemporaneously  with  the  Mammoth 
and  Reindeer. 

4.  Last  epoch,  or  epoch  of  the  Pile-buildings,  in  which  man  lived  contempo- 
raneously with  the  Gigantic  Deer,  the  Aurochs,  &c. 


86  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

however,  only  as  the  descendant  or  successor  of  a  still  older  and 
more  barbarous  race  belonging  to  the  Tertiary  period,  was  of 
large  stature,  powerful  and  longheaded,  (dolichocephalic,)  judg- 
ing from  the  skulls  of  Engis  and  the  Neanderthal.  He  paid 
honor  to  the  dead,  was  acquainted  with  the  use  of  fire,  made 
hearths,  split  the  hollow  bones  and  skulls  of  animals  in  order  to 
extradl  the  marrow  and  brains  from  them,  adorned  himself  with 
corals  and  the  teeth  of  wild  animals,  and  clothed  himself  in  skins 
or  in  the  bark  of  trees  softened  by  beating.  He  possessed  rude 
axes  and  knives  split  off  from  blocks  of  stone,  and  implements 
of  bone  adapted  for  various  purposes.  And  judging  from  the 
great  abundance  of  flint  instruments  found  in  the  European 
caves,  he  was  spread  over  the  whole  of  central  Europe  north 
of  the  Alps. 

This  description  does  not  exactly  apply  to  the  barbarous 
primeval  man  of  the  earliest  diluvial  times,  and  it  would  appear 
that  the  describer  must  have  had  in  his  mind  at  the  same  time  a 
series  of  cave-discoveries  belonging  to  a  somewhat  later  date. 
Westropp  who  distinguishes  four  stages  of  civilization,  names 
this  earliest  stage  of  humanity  that  oi  savagery,  and  supposes  it 
to  be  followed  by  the  stages  of  hunters,  herdsmen,  and  agri- 
culturists. 

The  ancient  stone  age  is  immediately  followed  by  the  middle 
stone  age,  characterized  by  stone  weapons  and  flint  implements 
of  finer  workmanship  and  greater  finish. 

We  might  also  call  it  the  period  oi  flint  knives,  as  these  are 
found  in  enormous  quantities,  whilst  the  axes  are  far  less  numer- 
ous in  proportion.  But  it  is  generally  indicated  as  the  Reindeer 
period,  and  the  man  then  living  as  the  Reindeer-man,  on  account 
of  the  immense  quantity  of  worked  and  chiselled  bones  and 
antlers  of  the  Reindeer,  (or  Stag,)  which  we  find  in  localities 
belonging  to  this  time.  This  manufacture  of  the  bones  of 
Mammals  and  fishes,  shells,  etc.,  was  carried  on  partly  for 
purposes  of  domestic  utility  and  partly  for  the  production  of 


OUR    ORIGIN.  87 

ornamental  objedls.  But  the  extremely  imperfect  civilization 
of  the  man  of  this  period  is  shown  by  the  circumstance  that  he 
still  possessed  no  domestic  animals,  with  the  exception,  perhaps 
of  the  dog,  and  that  the  remains  of  a  ver^'  rude,  blackish 
pottery  are  only  found  here  and  there.  The  bones  of  animals 
found  belong  partly  to  extin6l  forms  and  partly  to  species  which 
are  still  in  existence,  but  which,  like  the  Reindeer,  retreated  to 
high  northern  latitudes  before  the  period  of  history  or  tradi- 
tion. The  whole  period  of  the  Reindeer-man  is  completely 
pre-historic,  as  according  to  the  unanimous  opinion  of  natural- 
ists the  Reindeer  emigrated  from  our  regions  in  pre-historic 
times. 

To  this  period  belong  the  greater  part  of  the  objects  dis- 
covered in  caves,  especially  in  the  numerous  caves  of  the  South 
of  France  and  Belgium,  which  have  furnished  such  abundant 
materials  for  the  primeval  history  of  man.  It  would  appear 
from  this,  that  the  Reindeer-man  lived  chiefly  or  almost  ex- 
clusively in  caverns,  which,  indeed,  not  only  at  that  period, 
but  long  before  and  long  after  it,  served  mankind  as  places  of 
residence  or  of  refuge.*  The  cave  of  Aurignac  described  at 
the  beginning  of  this  section,  in  which  flint  knives,  ornaments, 
instruments  of  bone,  etc.,  were  found,  must  be  placed  in  this 
series.  It  is  also  characteristic  of  this  period  that  in  the  locali- 
ties belonging  to  it  numerous  remains  of  man  himself  have  been 
found,  whilst  this  has  hitherto  been  the  case  to  a  very  limited 
extent  in  localities  of  the  earliest  stone  age.  According  to  Carl 
Vogt  the  skulls  of  this,  (second,)  period  exhibit  a  flatness  of 
the  frontal  region,  v.dth  a  considerable  development  of  the 
occipital  part  and  a  rooflike  form  of  the  cranial  arch  (as  in 
Australian  skulls.)  With  this  structure  is  usually  combined 
strong  prognathism  or  obliquity  of  the  teeth,  a  short  form  of 
the  head,  (brachycephalism,)  and  a  feeble  structure  of  the  body, 
so  that  the  general  picture  of  the  man  of  the  Reindeer  time 

*  See  Appendix  No.  13. 


88  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

corresponds  most  closely  with  that  of  the  existing-  Laplanders. 
The  great  artistic  sense  which  is  displayed  in  the  drawings  and 
carvings  of  the  Reindeer-man,  as  previously  described,  is  very 
remarkable,  and  the  progress  towards  civilization  which  was 
made  by  him  in  the  finer  finishing  of  his  weapons  and  imple- 
ments and  by  the  invention  of  pottery  was  very  considerable. 
As  Vogt  says,  the  Reindeer-man  excelled  particularly  in  the  art 
of  working  in  bone.  He  evidently  lived  only  by  the  chase  and 
by  fishing,  and  thus  represented  the  second  or  hunter-stage  of 
the  four  degrees  of  civilization  established  by  Westropp.  To 
the  same  stage  this  author  also  refers  the  kitchen-middens  or 
heaps  of  culinary  refuse,  as  we  find  in  them  only  chipped  stone 
implements,  but  none  polished  or  smoothed  by  grinding. 

An  exceedingly  brilliant  light  has  been  thrown  upon  the 
Reindeer  period  and  the  Reindeer-man  by  the  very  careful 
investigation  of  the  Belgian  caves  which  has  been  made  during 
the  last  few  years,  as  also  by  the  celebrated  discovery  at  the 
source  of  the  Schussen  near  Schussenried  in  Swabia.* 

The  middle  stone-age  is  followed  by  the  recent  stone-age,  or 
Lubbock's  Neolithic  period.  It  is  characterized  by  the  profuse 
occurrence  of  stone  weapons  and  implements  of  fine  workman- 
ship,! and  especially  by  the  circumstance  that  these  implements 
are  not,  as  previously,   prepared  by  chipping  or  tapping,  but 

*See  Appendix  No.  13. 

+  According  to  an  admirable  article  by  Sir  John  Lubboclc  on  the  use  of  stone  in 
ancient  times  (Revue  Lit/eraire,  1865-66,  No.  i),  there  are  in  the  great  Museum 
of  Antiquities  in  Copenhagen  alone  about  eleven  to  twelve  thousand  articles  in 
stone,  and  the  number  of  all  the  specimens  contained  in  private  and  public  collec- 
tions in  Denmark  is  estimated  by  Mr.  Herbst  at  30000  !  The  Museum  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy  contains  nearly  700  flint  flakes,  512  celts,  more  than  400 
arrow  heads  and  50  lance  heads,  besides  75  of  the  so-called  scrapers,  and  many 
other  articles  made  of  stone,  such  as  sling-^tones,  hammers,  whetstones,  millstones, 
&c.  In  the  same  way  the  number  of  specimens  in  the  Museum  at  Stockholm  is 
estimated  at  between  fifteen  and  sixteen  thou-^and.  "  From  this,"  says  Lubbock, 
"  we  may  conclude  that  there  was  a  time  during  which  human  society  was  in  so 
rude  a  state,  that  stocks  and  stones,  horns  and  bones  were  the  only  instruments 
that  man  was  able  to  procure." 


OUR    ORIGIN.  89 

polished  or  smoothed  by  a  process  of  grinding  and  cutting ; 
they  are  also  engraved  or  furnished  with  scratched  ornaments 
and  provided  with  holes  for  the  reception  of  the  handle.  These 
cut  or  polished  stone  implements  have  long  been  known,  and 
all  Museums  swarm  with  them.  On  account  of  their  generally 
chisel-like  form  they  are  commonly  known  as  Celts,  (from  the 
Latin  celtis,  a  chisel.)  The  celts  are  found  most  abundantly  in 
the  North,  especially  in  Denmark. 

What  especially  distinguishes  this  third  and  most  recent 
stone-age  from  its  two  predecessors,  is  the  greater  development 
attained  in  it  by  the  art  of  pottery,  which  is  of  such  great  im- 
portance in  the  progress  of  civilization.  Numerous  remains  of 
earthenware  made  by  hand  occur  in  the  localities  of  this  period.* 

A  no  less  important  advance  in  civilization  is  indicated  by 
the  presence  of  the  bones  of  tamed  or  domesticated  animals,  and 
by  the  signs  of  the  commencement  of  agricultural  pursuits,  in- 
cluding the  keeping  of  cattle.  The  man  of  that  time,  whose 
intellectual  and  bodily  nature  was  more  and  more  approaching 
to  the  present  condition,  may  therefore  have  been  not  merely  a 
hunter,  but  also  partly  a  herdsman  and  agriculturist.  Subse- 
quently also  he  understood  the  arts  of  spinning,  of  weaving 
coarse  stuffs,  and  of  building  permanent  huts  and  dwelling 
places.  The  traces  of  this  age  are  spread  over  nearly  the  whole 
earth.  In  general  all  discoveries  made  in  the  so-called  alluvial 
soil  are  referred  to  it,    as  also  the  turbaries  and  shell-heaps 

*The  first  appearance  and  gradual  progress  of  the  art  of  pottery  is  very  charac- 
teristic in  the  primeval  periods  of  the  human  race.  During  the  most  ancient  cave 
period  it  is  probable  that  nothing  of  the  kind  was  used  except  rude  lumps  of  clay 
with  a  hollow  in  the  middle  for  keeping  water  to  drink  in  the  interior  of  the  caves. 
Subsequently  the  vessel  was  dried  in  the  sun  to  make  it  harder.  But  it  was  only 
in  the  Reindeer  period  that  man  seems  first  to  have  employed  fire  for  hardening 
vessels.  In  order  to  make  tht?  clay  resist  the  fire  better,  it  was  probably  mixed 
with  quartz-sand.  These  most  ancient  vessels  are,  however,  very  rude,  and  were 
manufacturea  solely  by  hand,  as  may  still  be  seen  distinctly  by  the  impressions  of 
fingers  upon  them.  They  are  usually  of  a  blackish  color.  The  use  of  the  potter's 
wheel  was  introduced  much  later. 


90  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

already  described,  the  Swiss  pile-buildings,  and  the  Irish  lake- 
dwellings,  the  tumuli  or  grave  mounds,  the  Dolmens,  &c. 
The  most  ancient  remains  of  the  so-called  Celtic  age  must  also 
be  referred  to  this  period,  which  indeed,  as  already  stated, 
sends  its  last  offshoots  far  into  the  historical  period.  Scattered 
through  the  whole  of  Europe  there  is  a  great  number  of  graves, 
the  contents  of  which  show  them  to  belong  to  one  of  the  two 
last  mentioned  periods  of  the  stone-age.  By  the  increasing 
delicacy  and  perfection  of  the  weapons  and  implements,  as  well 
as  by  their  greater  adaptation  for  the  most  varied  purposes  both 
of  peace  and  war,  these  graves  display  in  a  remarkable  manner 
the  gradual  progress  of  the  people  of  the  stone  age.  But  this 
progress  must  have  required  an  enormous  lapse  of  time,  and 
the  advance  itself  must  have  taken  place  slowly  in  proportion 
to  the  antiquity  of  the  men  and  their  poverty  in  the  means  of 
progress.  How  many  thousands  of  years  may  have  elapsed 
before  the  transition  from  the  oldest  to  the  middle  stone-age 
could  have  taken  place?  before  man  succeeded  in  giving  a 
rather  more  delicate  or  improved  form  to  the  rough  flint 
hammers  of  the  oldest  period,  or  in  adapting  the  material  at 
his  command  to  more  multifarious  purposes?  This  remarkably 
slow  progress  cannot  astonish  us  if  we  only  bear  in  mind  the 
picture  of  the  condition  of  this  period  which  has  already  been 
sketched,  and  consider  on  the  one  hand  the  enormous  difficul- 
ties with  which  the  primitive  man  had  to  contend,  and  on  the 
other  the  absence  of  all  impulse,  whether  from  within  or  from 
without,  to  any  such  progress.  For  stability  or  tendency  to 
invariability  or  immobility  may  be  regarded  as  the  fundamental 
character  of  the  savage  and  primitive  state  of  man,  a  chara6ler 
which  of  itself  and  without  the  accession  of  external  impulses 
possesses  essentially  a  tendency  to  almost  infinite  duration. 
This  indeed  may  be  observed  in  the  case  of  existing  savages, 
who  remain  almost  stationary  for  thousands  of  years  without 
making  any  essential  progress.      With  regard  to  this,  Lyell 


OUR    ORIGIN.  91 

says  very  appropriately:  "The  extent  to  which  even  a  con- 
siderably advanced  state  of  civilization  may  become  fixed  and 
stereotyped  for  ages,  is  the  wonder  of  Europeans  who  travel  in 
the  East.  One  of  my  friends  declared  to  me,  that  whenever 
the  natives  expressed  to  him  a  wish  '  that  he  might  live  a  thou- 
sand years,'  the  idea  struck  him  as  by  no  means  extravagant, 
seeing  that,  if  he  were  doomed  to  sojourn  forever  among  them, 
he  could  only  hope  to  exchange  in  ten  centuries  as  many  ideas, 
and  to  witness  as  much  progress,  as  he  could  do  at  home  in 
half  a  century." 

As  may  easily  be  imagined  it  is  precisely  the  first  step  in  the 
path  of  civilization  that  must  have  been  the  most  difficult  and 
therefore  the  slowest.  On  the  contrary,  with  every  fresh 
advance,  both  the  means  and  the  desire  to  overcome  the  diffi- 
culties or  obstacles  in  the  way  must  have  been  increased.  With 
regard  to  the  external  obstacles  to  progress  no  doubt  the  large 
and  powerful  animals  of  the  Diluvial  period  must  have  dis- 
appeared and  the  mighty  geological  catastrophes  of  that  age 
must  have  run  their  course,  before  man  could  obtain  sufficient 
space  and  opportunity  for  the  development  of  his  powers  and 
the  wider  diffusion  of  his  race  upon  the  earth.  And  even  after  all 
this  had  taken  place,  impulses  of  some  particular  kind  would  be 
required  to  rouse  the  primeval  savage  from  that  sluggish,  in- 
active and  unintellectual  state  in  which  one  generation  after 
another  had  sunk  into  the  grave  like  the  beasts  surrounding 
them,  and  to  force  upon  him,  as  it  were,  the  necessity  of  ad- 
vancing in  civilization. 

Among  impulses  of  this  kind  I  reckon  prominent  natural 
phenomena,  geographical  or  climatic  changes,  the  immigration 
of  old  or  irruption  of  foreign  races,  wars,  famines,  expulsions  from 
dwelling  places,  migrations,  the  commencement  of  relations  of 
traffic  and  commerce,  the  gradual  improvement  of  language,  etc. , 
and  especially  the  rise  of  certain  highly  endowed  individuals  who 
possessed  themselves  of  a  political  or  spiritual  sovereignty. 


92  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

Without  any  such  impulses  it  is  possible  that  the  savage 
state  in  which  our  oldest  ancestor  lived,  might  have  persisted 
to  the  present  day.  It  is  true  that  many  people  talk  about  the 
existence  of  an  innate  and  necessary  instinct  of  progress  in 
human  nature,  and  believe  that  this  instinct  must  always  and 
necessarily  produce  its  due  effect.  But  in  the  presence  of  so 
many  eloquent  facts  which  testify  to  the  contrary,  it  will  be 
difficult  for  any  one  with  an  unprejudiced  judgment  to  believe 
in  such  a  necessity.  Thus  not  only  are  there  people  who  have 
remained  stationary  at  the  same  degree  of  culture  from  the 
very  dawn  of  history,  but  there  are  others,  such  as  the  Chinese, 
who  have  certainly  attained  a  certain  stage  of  progress,  but 
have  then  remained  without  alteration,  whilst  we  can  only  find 
one  comparatively  small  group  of  nations  which  has  hitherto 
been  constantly  engaged  in  a  course  of  progress  and  improve- 
ment. But  even  this  progress  in  them  has  not  always  pro- 
ceeded spontaneously  from  within,  but  the  impulse  towards  it 
has  come  in  historic  times  only  from  without.  We  also  see 
those  nations  which  were  formerly  the  greatest  and  most  power- 
ful and  endowed  with  the  most  advanced  civilization,  such  as 
the  Egyptians,  Assyrians,  Jews,  Greeks,  Romans,  &c. ,  now  in  a 
state  of  almost  complete  decay,  whilst  their  place  in  the  scale  of 
progress  has  been  taken  by  quite  different  peoples  in  other 
lands.  Thus  it  is  quite  conceivable  that  the  European  primi- 
tive man  would  perhaps  never  have  emancipated  himself  from 
his  state  of  rude  servitude  to  nature,  if  impulses  from  without, 
and  especially  the  occasional  immigration  of  foreign  races  of  a 
higher  degree  of  culture,  had  not  been  brought  to  bear  upon 
him.  Whether  a  complete  displacement  or  destruction  of  the 
aborigines  by  the  new-comers  took  place  under  these  circum- 
.stances,  or  only  a  mixture  and  conseciuent  ennoblement  of  the 
native  race,  is  a  question  which  can  hardly  be  answered  directly, 
but  the  .second  case  is  certainly  by  far  the  most  probable.* 

*See  Appeuilix  No.  14. 


OUR    ORIGIN.  93 

With  this  we  may  consider  that  we  have  touched  upon  all 
the  essential  points  in  our  knowledge  of  primeval  man  and  his 
rude  condition,  scanty  as  this  is  at  present.  It  is  remarkable 
that  a  certain  reminiscence  of  this  early  condition  must  have 
been  preserved  among  the  most  ancient  men  and  in  the  earliest 
recollections  of  peoples,  for  among  very  many  of  the  latter,  un- 
mistakable traditions  of  the  first  rude  commencements  of  cul- 
ture and  civilization  are  to  be  found.  Thus,  for  example,  the 
Chinese  possess  a  complete  picture  of  the  progress  of  their 
civilization,  which  in  its  main  features  agrees  perfecth'  with  the 
results  of  our  scientific  investigation.  This  picture  commences 
with  the  time  when  men  lived  naked  upon  the  trees  and  were 
still  unacquainted  with  the  use  of  fire.  Afterwards  they  clothed 
themselves  with  leaves  and  bark,  later  still  with  skins,  &c. ,  &c. 
In  the  same  way,  according  to  Prof  Spiegel,  {Genesis  und 
Aves^a,)  the  most  ancient  traditions  and  legends  of  the  Hebrews, 
Phoenicians,  Hindoos,  Babylonians,  &c. ,  all  point  to  a  primitive 
savage  state  from  which  the  human  race  rose  to  a  higher  con- 
dition only  by  the  help  of  the  Gods,  or  of  specially  endowed 
men,  (the  so-called  patriarchs.)  According  to  the  legends  of 
the  Babylonians  their  ten  most  ancient  patriarchs  lived  alto- 
gether 432,000  years!  The  Iranian  heroic  legend  endeavors 
to  show  a  gradual  development  of  the  human  race  from  a  state 
of  complete  savagery  to  a  regular  state  of  social  life,  and  this  it 
does  by  the  same  steps  of  development  that  are  accepted  in  the 
Semitic  legends.  Its  first  king,  Gaiumard,  taught  men  to 
clothe  themselves  in  the  skins  of  animals  and  to  eat  the  fruits 
of  trees,  whilst  an  accidentally  ignited  tree  taught  a  subsequent 
king,  (Huscheng,)  the  use  of  fire.  In  this  a  divine  nature  was 
immediately  supposed  to  reside,  and  the  worship  of  fire  com- 
menced. 

By  the  Phoenicians  also  the  first  use  of  fire  and  the  discovery 
of  the  art  of  producing  it  by  fri6lion,  are  placed  in  the  second 
generation  of  the  human  race.     According  to  the  Bundehesch, 


94  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

a  very  ancient  Iranian  document,  the  first  men  lived  only  on 
fruits  and  water.  It  was  only  at  a  later  period  that  they  made 
use  of  milk  and  flesh,  acquired  the  knowledge  of  fire,  clad 
themselves  in  the  skins  of  animals,  built  themselves  huts,  &c. 
If  we  leave  out  of  consideration  the  merely  poetical  ideas  of 
the  gold  and  silver  ages,  throughout  the  whole  period  of  classi- 
cal antiquity,  no  other  notion  than  the  above  prevailed  as  to 
the  primitive  state  of  our  race  upon  the  earth  and  the  slow  and 
gradual  course  of  its  development.  As  a  proof  of  this  we  may 
cite  the  celebrated  passage  in  Horace,  {Satires,  Book  I.  3,99,) 
which,  moreover,  seems  to  have  been  founded  upon  the  well- 
known  dissertation  on  the  Epicurean  philosophy  of  the  history 
of  Creation  in  the  fifth  book  of  the  didactic  poem  of  Lucretius 
Carus.  "When  animals,"  says  Horace,  "first  crawled  forth 
from  the  new  formed  earth,  a  stupid  and  filthy  flock,  they 
fought  for  acorns  and  places  of  refuge  with  their  nails  and  fists, 
then  with  cudgels,  and  finally  with  weapons  which,  guided  by 
experience,  they  had  made  for  themselves.  Then  they  invented 
names  for  things  and  words  to  express  their  thoughts,  after 
which  they  began  to  abstain  from  war,  to  fortify  their  towns,  to 
establish  laws,  &c. ' ' 

After  the  period  of  classical  antiquity  had  passed  away,  and 
by  means  of  influences  of  an  unscientific  kind  which  I  will  not 
characterize  more  particularly,  a  conception  quite  opposite  to 
that  just  described  was  brought  forth,  and  gradually  arrived  at 
almost  universal  acceptance.  This  is  the  notion  that  the  prim- 
itive man  was  not  a  barbarous  savage,  but  on  the  contrary,  a 
being  as  perfect  as  possible  and  endowed  with  the  highest  and 
best  qualities,  and  that  we  ourselves  are  only  the  degenerate 
descendants  of  a  better  and  more  noble  race,  corrupted  and 
ruined  by  sin  and  labor.  A  consequence  of  the  adoption  of 
this  opinion  is  that  even  scientific  men  are  fond  of  representing 
the  existing  savages  as  the  degraded  and  degenerate  posterity 


OUR   ORIGIN.  95 

of  more  highly  endowed  forefathers.*     In  this  sense  the  Count 

de  Salles  says  :  "Man,  created  by  God,  passed  from  the  hands 
of  the  Creator  as  a  perfect  work,  complete  in  body  and  spirit. 
Whatever  may  be  the  a6lual  degradation  of  many  men,  civiliza- 
tion is  their  final  goal,  as  it  was  their  original  state. f 

"  It  is  difficult  to  conceive,"  says  Quatrefages  after  citing  this 
passage,  "upon  what  facts  this  author  relies."  In  point  of 
fa6l,  such  an  opinion  as  this  having  sprung  solely  from  theo- 
retical considerations  can  only  appeal  to  theoretical  grounds, 
whilst  it  is  in  the  plainest  contradi6lion  to  every  known  fa6l. 
If  the  men  now  living  were  really  only  the  degenerate  and 
partially  corrupted  descendants  of  a  former  higher  and  better 
race,  it  would  be  difficult  to  understand  how  the  human  race 
could  still  exist,  as  it  is  a  law  generally  recognized  and  proved 
by  experience,  that  degenerate  or  degraded  tribes  and  indi- 
viduals are  never  of  long  duration,  but  that  they  gradually 
disappear. 

Lyell  argues  admirably  against  this  view  in  the  following- 
words  :  ' '  But  had  the  original  stock  of  mankind  been  really  en- 
dowed with  such  superior  intelleflual  powers  and  with  inspired 
knowledge,  and  had  they  possessed  the  same  improvable  nature 
as  their  posterity,  the  point  of  advancement  to  which  they 
would  have  reached  ere  this  would  have  been  immeasurably 
higher.  We  cannot  ascertain  at  present  the  limits,  whether  of 
the  beginning  or  the  end,  of  the  first  stone  period,  when  Man 
co-existed  with  the  extin6l  Mammalia,  but  that  it  was  of  great 
duration  we  cannot  doubt.  During  those  ages  there  would 
have  been  time  for  progress  of  which  we  can  scarcely  form  a 
conception,  and  very  different  would  have  been  the  character 

*  In  the  case  of  many,  or  at  all  events  of  some  savage  tribes,  this  view  may  un- 
doubtedly be  to  a  certain  extent  correct,  but  as  a  general  rule  it  is  certainly  quite 
false. 

+  The  great  poet  Milton  also  was,  as  is  well  known,  a  supporter  of  this  hypothe- 
sis of  tte  perfection  of  the  primitive  man,  and  sings  of  Adam  as  the  most  perfect 
of  men  and  of  Eve  as  the  loveliest  of  women. 


96  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND   FUTURE. 

of  the  works  of  art  which  we  should  now  be  endeavoring'  to 
interpret, — those  relics  which  we  are  now  disinterring  from  the 
old  gravel-pits  of  St.  Acheul,  or  from  the  Liege  caves.  In 
them,  or  in  the  upraised  bed  of  the  Mediterranean,  on  the 
south  coast  of  Sardinia,  instead  of  the  rudest  pottery  or  flint 
tools  so  irregular  in  form  as  to  cause  the  unpractised  eye  to 
doubt  whether  they  afford  unmistakable  evidence  of  design,  we 
should  now  be  finding  sculptured  forms,  surpassing  in  beauty 
the  master-pieces  of  Phidias  or  Praxiteles;  lines  of  buried  rail- 
ways or  electric  telegraphs,  from  which  the  best  engineers  of 
our  day  might  gain  invaluable  hints  ;  astronomical  instruments 
and  microscopes  of  more  advanced  construction  than  any 
known  in  Europe,  and  other  indications  of  perfection  in  the 
arts  and  sciences,  such  as  the  nineteenth  century  has  not  yet 
witnessed.  Still  farther  would  the  triumph  of  inventive  genius 
be  found  to  have  been  carried,  when  the  later  deposits,  now 
assigned  to  the  ages  of  bronze  and  iron  were  formed.  Vainly 
should  we  be  straining  our  imaginations  to  guess  the  possible 
uses  and  meaning  of  such  relics — machines,  perhaps,  for  navi- 
gating the  air  or  exploring  the  depths  of  the  ocean,  or  for  cal- 
culating arithmetical  problems,  beyond  the  wants  or  even  the 
conception  of  living  mathematicians." 

Now  we  do  not  find  in  the  depths  of  the  earth  such  things  as 
are  here  described  by  Lyell,  but  in  all  cases  just  the  reverse, 
and  we  must  therefore  feel  convinced  that  man  did  not,  in 
accordance  with  this  opinion  which  we  find  coming  to  the 
surface  from  time  to  time,*  commence  with  great  things  to  end 
with  small,  but  that  beginning  with  small  things  he  has  ended 
with  great,  as  indeed  is  the  rule  in  almost  all  human  affairs! 

Which  of  the  opinions  here  described  is  not  merely  the  most 
probable  but  the  most  encouraging  and  satisfactory,  the  author 
may  confidently  leave  to  the  judgment  of  the  reader.      It  is  only 

See  Appendix  No.  15. 


OUR   ORIGIN.  97 

by  a  complete  misapprehension  of  the  truth  and  of  right  senti- 
ments that  so  many  men  can  have  been  induced  to  reject  the  view 
here  developed  of  the  antiquity  and  origin  of  our  race  upon  the 
earth  as  being  repulsive  and  discouraging,  and  to  imagine  that 
if  it  be  adopted  the  elevated  sentiment  of  the  dignity  of  human 
nature  must  be  endangered.  We  do  not  know  how  to  combat 
this  false  pride  which  regards  a  lowly  origin  as  something  con- 
temptible and  degrading  better  than  in  the  admirable  words  of 
Professor  Huxley,  who  speaks  as  follows  in  his  remarkable 
memoir  on  the  Place  of  Man  in  Nature:  "Thoughtful  men, 
once  escaped  from  the  blinding  influence  of  traditional  preju- 
dice, will  find  in  the  lowly  stock  whence  man  has  sprung  the 
best  evidence  of  the  splendor  of  his  capacities  ;  and  will  discern 
in  his  long  progress  through  the  Past  a  reasonable  ground  of 
faith  in  his  attainment  of  a  nobler  Future." 

In  reality  the  humbler  our  origin,  the  more  elevated  is  our 
present  position  in  Nature!  the  smaller  the  commencement,  the 
greater  is  the  termination!  the  harder  the  struggle,  the  more 
brilliant  the  victory !  the  more  painful  and  tedious  the  course  by 
which  our  civilization  has  been  attained,  the  more  valuable  is 
this  civilization  itself,  and  the  more  powerful  the  endeavor  not 
merely  to  retain  it  but  to  still  further  develop  it!  It  is  not  hu- 
miliation and  discouragement,  but  incitement  to  something  still 
greater,  that  the  thinking  and  right-feeling  man  must  derive  from 
the  knowledge  of  the  antiquity  and  primitive  state  of  his  race 
upon  the  earth!  Probably  everything  that  we  possess  in  the 
way  of  culture,  civilization,  art,  science,  morality  and  progress, 
is  nothing  but  the  product  of  an  infinitely  slow  and  difficult  de- 
velopment and  self-education,  starting  from  a  rude  and  brutal 
state,  advancing  step  by  step  from  knowledge  to  knowledge, 
and  rendered  possible  by  an  enormous  lapse  of  time,  in  com- 
parison with  which  the  duration  of  our  own  existence  is  like 
that  of  a  flash  of  lightning.  In  the  light  of  such  knowledge  as 
this,  our  present  state  of  culture  must  appear  doubly  important. 


98       MAN  IN  THE  PAST,  PRESENT,  AND  FUTURE. 

precious  and  grand,  as  it  is  the  final  result  of  an  immense  eleva- 
tion, the  produ61:ion  of  which  has  consumed  and  exhausted  the 
powers  of  so  many  generations  of  men.  Those  who  laid  the 
first  foundations  of  this  great  edifice  could  have  had  no  suspicion 
of  its  future  grandeur! 

"Certainly,"  cried  Professor  Joly  of  Toulouse,  equally  poetic- 
ally and  truthfully,  at  the  close  of  his  lecture  upon  fossil  man, 
endeavoring  to  bring  clearly  before  his  auditors  the  enormous 
progress  made  by  science  and  the  arts  in  the  long  lapse  of 
ages,  "certainly,  the  little  flint  hammers  of  the  first  inhabitants 
of  Gaul  cannot  be  compared  with  those  heavy  blocks  of  iron 
which  are  set  in  motion  in  our  manufactories  by  the  force  of 
falling  water  or  of  steam.  There  is  a  wide  interval  between 
their  frail  skiffs,  their  canoes  hollowed  out  by  the  axe  and  the 
action  of  fire,  and  our  immense  armor-plated  ships  of  war. 
There  is  also  a  wide  interval  between  the  coarse  stuffs  manu- 
factured at  Wangen  and  Robenhausen,  and  those  supple, 
delicate  and  splendid  tissues  which  are  produced  by  our  Jac- 
quard  looms.  The  men  of  the  ages  of  stone  and  bronze  most 
certainly  never  suspected  that  one  day  the  most  ingenious 
machines  would  take  the  place  of  handiwork,  increasing  the 
products  a  hundredfold,  and  at  the  same  time  improving  them. 
They  could  never  have  imagined  that  steam  would  transport 
our  vessels  in  a  few  days  from  one  hemisphere  to  another ;  that 
the  golden  PhcEbus  and  the  pale  Phoebe  would  depict  their  own 
visages  in  the  camera  odscura ;  that  the  master  of  the  thunder, 
the  black-eyebrowed  Jupiter,  as  he  was  afterwards  called,  would 
be  reduced  in  our  days  to  play  the  part  of  a  mere  postman  ;  or 
that  man,  armed  with  Volta's  pile,  would  introduce  a  light  more 
brilliant  than  that  of  the  sun  into  places  where  the  sun  had 
never  penetrated.  Especially,  we  may  say,  they  could  never 
have  suspected  that  their  own  existence  would  be  contested 
and  even  denied  by  the  savants  of  the  Institute."  {Revtie  des 
Cours  Scientifiques^  2^  Annie,  No.  16.^ 


OUR   ORIGIN.  99 

In  reality  the  subjedl  of  our  book  is  anticipated  by  the  pre- 
ceding considerations  and  general  details,  as  the  view  of  the 
position  of  man  in  nature  maintained  in  it  is  proved  not  merely 
by  the  results  of  archeeogeological  studies  or  investigations 
upon  the  geological  antiquity  of  man  upon  the  earth  and  his 
primitive  condition,  but  equally,  or  perhaps  even  still  more  by 
the  results  of  systematic  zoology,  comparative  anatomy,  physi- 
ology, ethnography,  psychology  and  the  allied  sciences,  but 
above  all  by  the  study  of  the  developmental  history  of  the 
organism  of  man  and  animals,  which  has  become  so  important 
of  late.  These  results,  brought  together  from  such  numerous 
and  diverse  scientific  sources,  all  agree  in  so  unmistakable  and 
surprising  a  manner,  and  all  point  so  completely  in  one  direc- 
tion, that  I  hope  the  careful  reader  will  no  longer  have  any 
doubt  as  to  the  true  place  of  man  in  nature  when  he  has 
reached  the  end  of  the  following  section,  which  will  treat  of  the 
points  relating  to  the  second  of  the  three  great  questions  pro- 
posed by  us,  —  the  question  :     ' '  What  are  we  ?  " 

This  se6lion  will  also  contain  an  exposition  and  discussion  of 
the  theories  which  have  lately  been  proposed  with  regard  to 
the  infinitely  important  question  of  the  origin  and  descent  of  the 
human  race  from  the  world  of  animals  most  nearly  connected 
with  it 


END    OK    THE    FIRST    PART. 


WHAT    ARE    WE? 


THE     PRESENT     POSITION     OK    MAN     IN    NATURE;  HIS   DEVELOPMENTAL 

HISTORY   AND   PRODUCTION    FROM   THE   EGG-CELL.      ORIGIN 

AND   GENEALOGY   OF  THE   HUMAN    RACE. 


"  It  is  dangerous  to  let  man  perceive  too  distinctly  how  closely  he  approaches 
the  animals,  without  at  the  same  time  showing  him  his  greatness. —  It  is  also 
dangerous  to  let  him  see  his  greatness  too  much,  without  at  the  same  time  indi- 
cating his  lowliness. —  Still  more  dangerous  is  it  to  leave  him  in  ignorance  upon 
both  subjects. —  On  the  contrary,  it  is  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  give  him  a 
clear  notion  of  both." — Pascal. 

"Like  the  Roman  emperors,  who,  intoxicated  by  their  power,  at  length  re- 
garded themselves  as  demigods,  the  ruler  of  our  Planet  believes  that  the  brute 
animal  subjected  to  his  v/ill  has  nothing  in  common  with  his  own  nature  The 
affinity  of  the  ape  disturbs  and  humbles  him  ;  it  is  not  enough  for  him  to  be  the 
king  of  animals,  but  he  will  also  have  it  that  an  impassable  gulf  separates  him 
from  his  subjects,  and,  turning  his  back  upon  the  earth,  he  flies  with  his  threat- 
ened majesty  into  the  cloudy  sphere  of  a  special  "Human  kingdom."  But  anato- 
my, like  those  slaves  who  followed  the  conqueror's  car  crying  out  'remember  that 
thou  art  a  Man!'  disturbs  him  in  his  self-admiration,  and  reminds  him  of  that 
visible  and  tangible  reality  which  unites  him  with  the  animal  world."— Broca. 

"For  it  is  indeed  the  true  characteristic  of  science,  that  she  casts  her  net  in 
search  of  results  on  every  side,  seizes  upon  every  perceptible  property  of  things, 
and  subjects  it  to  the  hardest  tests,  no  matter  what  finally  comes  of  it."— Grimm. 

IN  the  first  se6lion  of  this  book,  after  giving  a  general  exposi- 
tion of  the  position  of  man  in  nature  and  showing  the  great 
importance  of  the  investigations  relating  to  it,  we  went  into  the 
details  of  the  question,  and  by  referring  especially  to  the  re- 
searches which  have  been  made  upon  the  antiquity  of  the 
human  race,  and  the  rude,  brutal  state  of  our  oldest  ancestors, 
the  so-called  primeval  7nen,  furnished  evidence  of  the  natural 
position  of  man  and  of  his  gradual  and  painful  upward  develop- 
ment to  a  more  cultivated  and  truly  human  condition. 

But  in  this  second  se6lion  this  earliest  ancestor  of  ours  will  be 

(101) 


I02  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT.    AND    FUTURE. 

traced  in  another  direction  ;  and  in  the  first  place  the  question 
will  be  discussed  of  the  true  position  which  our  race  occupies 
in  the  zoological  system  and  with  regard  to  the  animal  world 
which  is  so  nearly  related  to  it,  but  especially  with  regard  to  the 
highest  representatives  of  the  Quadrumana,  and  at  the  same 
time  of  the  Vertebrate  type  in  general,  which  come  nearest  to 
man  in  form  and  structure. 

And  here  again  the  known  facts  speak  a  language  so  clear 
and  incapable  of  misinterpretation  that,  when  once  we  are  in 
possession  of  accurate  information  on  the  subject,  we  can  only 
ask  with  no  small  astonishment  how  it  was  possible  that  this 
matter,  at  least  in  its  main  outlines,  could  ever  have  been  mis- 
understood or  erroneously  conceived  by  men  who  could  both 
see  and  think.  For  even  at  the  first  superficial  glance  it  must 
be  clear  to  every  man  who  is  moderately  well  educated,  that, 
on  all  sides  of  his  bodily  structure,  man  is  most  intimately  allied 
and  bound  to  the  organic  world  surrounding  him,  that  he 
throughout  obeys  the  same  organic  laws  of  form,  stru6lure, 
adaptation  and  reproduction, — and  that  he  must  therefore  neces- 
sarily be  arranged  as  an  integral  constituent  of  one  zoological 
system.  It  was  and  is  possible  to  overlook  this  simple  and 
important  truth  only  by  reason  of  the  immense  influence  of 
human  subjectivity  or  self  esteem,  which  regards  it  as  degrad- 
ing that  we  should  be  placed  on  the  same  grade  as  the  animals, 
or  arranged  with  them  in  the  same  system.  But  as  a  matter  of 
course,  in  scientific  matters,  this  subjectivity  must  be  put  in  the 
background,  and  truth  can  only  recognize  a  perfectly  objective 
consideration,  to  a  certain  extent  abandoning  the  personally 
human  standpoint,  or  indeed  rising  above  it.  This  is  well  ex- 
plained by  Professor  Huxley  in  the  following  manner.  "To 
see  this  rightly,"  he  says,  "let  us  for  a  moment  emancipate  or 
disconnect  our  thinking  selves  from  the  mask  of  humanity;  let 
us  imagine  ourselves  scientific  inhabitants  of  the  planet  Saturn 
and  well  acquainted  with  the  animated  creatures  which  inhabit 


WHAT    ARE   WE?  IO3 

the  earth,  their  anatomical  and  zoological  characters,  etc.  Now 
suppose  that  some  enterprising  traveller,  whom  the  difficulties 
of  space  and  gravitation  had  not  prevented  from  visiting  other 
planets,  had  brought  back  with  him  from  the  earth,  among 
other  things,  a  specimen  of  the  genus  Homo,  preserved  may  be 
in  a  cask  of  rum,  and  that  we  have  been  called  together  to 
examine  this  specimen  of  a  creature  previously  unknown  to  us, 
of  a  peculiar  'erect,  featherless  biped,'  and  determine  scientific- 
ally its  position  in  the  system.  What  would  be  the  result  of 
such  an  investigation  ?  All  the  Saturnian  philosophers  would 
agree  without  the  least  hesitation,  that  the  new  creature  was  to 
be  arranged  in  the  well  known  group  or  sub-kingdom  Verte- 
brata,  and  among  these  was  to  be  referred  specially  to  the  class 
Mammalia,  as  all  the  anatomical  and  zoological  characters 
presented  by  it  agree  precisely  with  those  of  that  group  and 
class.  If  we  were  further  to  inquire  in  what  particular  sub- 
division or  order  of  the  Mammalia  the  creature  in  question  was 
to  be  placed,  there  could  be  no  more  room  to  doubt  that  it 
could  belong  only  to  one  of  these  orders,  namely,  that  of  the 
Simiae  or  Apes,  (using  that  word  in  the  broadest  sense. ) 

The  structure  of  the  bones,  of  the  skull,  and  of  the  brain,  the 
formation  of  the  hands  and  feet,  the  teeth,  the  muscles,  the 
viscera,  etc. ,  are  all  founded  in  the  ape  and  in  Man  upon  pre- 
cisely the  same  principles,  and  Huxley,  himself  an  anatomist  of 
great  reputation,  in  his  Me?7ioir  on  the  relations  of  primeval  man 
to  the  animals  immediately  below  him,  takes  the  trouble,  (which 
was  hardly  necessary  for  educated  readers,)  of  proving  in  detail 
and  by  the  comparison  of  every  more  important  organ,  that 
all  the  differences  of  bodily  structure  that  we  can  find  between 
man  and  the  most  highly  organized  apes,  {i.  e. ,  the  so-called 
anthropoid  or  man-hke  apes,)  are  not  so  great  iyi  degree  as  the 
differences  between  the  higher  and  lower  species  or  families  of 
the  Simiae. 

"Thus,"  says  our  author  in  summing  up  the  results  of  his 


I04  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

investigations,  "whatever  system  of  organs  be  studied,  the 
comparison  of  their  modifications  in  the  ape  series  leads  to  one 
and  the  same  result — that  the  structural  differences  which  sepa- 
rate Man  from  the  Gorilla  and  the  Chimpanzee  are  not  so  great 
as  those  which  separate  the  Gorilla  from  the  lower  apes." 
From  all  these  considerations  Huxley  draws  the  important  con- 
clusion that,  from  a  systematico-zoological  point  of  view,  we 
have  not  even  the  right  to  separate  Man  as  a  distinct  order  of 
Mammalia  from  the  order  of  the  Simiae,  or  as  they  have  hitherto 
been  erroneously  called,  Quadrumana  or  four-handed  animals, 
and  certainly  not  to  sever  him  (as  was  formerly  pretty  generally 
done)  entirely  from  the  rest  of  the  world  and  relegate  him  to 
a  particular  kingdom  of  nature,  the  so-called  human  kingdom, 
standing  on  the  same  footing  as  the  animal  and  vegetable  king- 
doms. On  the  contrary,  man,  considered  scientifically,  can 
only  be  regarded  as  a  distinct  family  of  the  highest  order  of 
Mammalia,  an  order  which  embraces  in  addition  the  true  apes  as 
well  as  the  so-called  Prosimise,  (^Lermirs,  etc. )  Following  the  ex- 
ample of  the  celebrated  lawgiver  of  systematic  zoology,  Linne,* 
we  may  most  appropriately  designate  this  order  by  the  name 
of  "Primates,"  that  is  to  say,  pre-eminent  or  noble  forms. f 
This  highest  order  of  the  Primates  is  divisible  according  to 
Huxley  into  seven  families  of  nearly  equal  systematic  value. 
The  lowest  grade  is  lormed  by  the  Galcopithccmi  or  flying 
Lemurs, — the  highest  by  man  or  the  family  g{\\\&  Ayithropini.X 

Immediately  below  man  come  the  great  man-like  apes  and 
the  monkeys  of  the  Old  world,  and  the  monkeys  of  the  New 
world,  as  the  second  and  third  families  in  descending  order. 

First,  the  true  Apes  and  Monkeys  of  the  Old  world,  (Africa 
and  Asia,)  forming  the  family  of  the   Catarrhini  or  "narrow- 

*See  Appendix  No.  16.     J  See  Appendix  No.  17. 

t  The  usual  mode  of  grouping;  of  the  animal  world  proceeding'  in  order  from 
below  upwards,  or  from  the  individual  to  the  more  general,  embraces  the  following 
ideas:  the  species^  \.he  ^-enus,  the  family,  the  order,  the  class,  the  group  or  sub- 
kingdom,  and  the  kingdom. 


WHAT    ARE    WE  r  IO5 

nosed  Simiae ; "  after  these  the  monkeys  of  the  New  world  or 
America,  called  Platyrrhini  or  hroa.d-nosed  Simiae." 

"Perhaps,"  says  Huxley  in  concluding  his  remarkable  ex- 
position of  this  subject,  ' '  perhaps  no  order  of  Mammals  pre- 
sents us  with  so  extraordinary  a  series  of  gradations  as  this — 
leading  us  insensibly  from  the  crown  and  summit  of  the  animal 
creation  down  to  creatures,  from  which  there  is  but  a  step, 
as  it  seems,  to  the  lowest,  smallest,  and  least  intelligent  of  the 
placental  Mammalia.*  It  is  as  if  nature  herself  had  foreseen  the 
arrogance  of  man,  and  with  Roman  severity  had  provided  that 
his  intellect,  by  its  very  triumphs,  should  call  into  prominence 
the  slaves,  admonishing  the  conqueror  that  he  is  but  dust. — 
These  are  the  chief  facts,  this  is  the  immediate  conclusion  from 
them  to  which  I  adverted  at  the  commencement  of  this  Essay, 
The  facts  I  believe  cannot  be  disputed;  and  if  so,  the  conclusion 
appears  to  me  to  be  inevitable.  * ' 

The  grouping  is  arranged  somewhat  differently  by  Professor 
E.  Haeckel,  of  Jena,  who  has  lately  written  upon  this  subject  in 
a  very  thoroughgoing  manner.f  He  separates  Huxley's  last 
three  families,  the  Prosimiae  in  the  wider  sense  of  the  word, 
entirely  from  the  order  Primates,  so  that  in  this  order  there 
remain  only  man  and  the  so-called  true  apes  and  monkeys  of 
the  old  and  new  worlds.  The  Prosimiae  or  Lemures,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  regarded  by  Haeckel,  as  the  common  tnmk- 
group  from  which  the  other  orders  of  the  so-called  Discopla- 
centalia,  or  Mammalia   with  a  disk-like  placenta, |  have  very 

*  Placental  mammals  are  those  whose  young  during;  the  period  of  pregnancy 
are  nourished  by  means  oi  :\. placenta  within  the  uterus  itself.  They  form  the 
highest  grade  of  the  Ma.mmilia  in  opposition  to  marsupials  or  pouched  Mammals, 
which  carry  their  young  in  a  pouch  ur  bag  of  the  abdomen  and  nourish  them  there 
by  suckling,  and  probably  originated  from  the  latter  in  geological  times,  (at  the 
end  of  the  Secondary  or  the  commencement  of  the  Tertiary  epoch.) 

t  Ueber  die  Eniste/inng  und  den  Stamtnbaum  des  Menschengeschlechts. —  (On 
the  origin  and  genealogy  of  the  human  race.)  —  Two  lectures. —  Berlin,  1868. 

X  The  Discoplacentalia,  or  Mammalia  with  a  disk,  or  cake-like  placenta,  form 
the  highest  grade  of  the  placental  Mammalia,  the  latter  including  besides  these 
the  lower  developmental  forms  of  tlie  Zonop/jcentaita,  or  Mammals  with  a  zone- 
like placenta,  and  the  Sparsiplacen/alia,  or  Mammals  with  a  placenta  formed  of 
scattered  lobes  or  cotyledons.  The  Zouoplacenlalia  and  Discoplacentalia  are 
further  united  more  closely  to  each  other,  inasmuch  as  bjth  possess  a  decidua  or 
deciduous  membrane,  which  is  deficient  in  the  Sparsiplacentalia. 


106  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

probably  been  developed  as  four  divergent  branches,  namely 
the  Rodentia  or  gnawing  mammals,  the  Inse^ivora,  the  Chir- 
optera  or  Bats,  and  the  true  Simiae.^ 

' '  Man,  however, "  according  to  Haeckel, ' '  cannot  be  separated 
from  the  order  of  the  Simiae  or  true  apes,  as  he  stands  nearer 
in  every  respect  to  the  higher  apes  than  these  to  the  lower  true 
apes."  He  therefore  forms  with  these  animals  the  highest 
order  of  the  Discoplacentalia  under  the  common  and  long 
known  name  of  the  Primates,  whilst  the  four  other  orders  of 
this  group  of  Mammals  are  formed  by  the  Prosimiae,  Rodentia, 
Insectivora  and  Chiroptera.  Of  the  true  apes  the  Catarrhini  or 
narrow-nosed  forms,  the  apes  of  the  old  world  as  they  are 
called,  approach  nearest  to  man,  as  is  shown  by  the  formation 
of  the  nose,  which  is  characterized  by  a  narrow  septum  and  by 
having  the  nostrils  directed  downwards,  and  also  by  the  denti- 
tion, which  is  exactly  the  same  as  in  man,  the  number  of  teeth 
being  thirty-two,  whilst  in  the  Platyrrhini  or  broad-nosed  apes 
there  are  thirty -six  teeth  ;t  even  leaving  out  of  consideration 

♦According  to  Haeckel,  the  Prosimiae  are  very  remarkable  animals.  While 
probably  numerous  genera  and  species  were  living  in  the  early  Tertiary  period, 
they  are  represented  at  present  by  only  a  few  living  forms  which  have  retired  into 
the  wildest  regions  of  Asia  and  Africa.  The  various  genera  of  the  Prosimias  ex- 
hibit striking  forms  of  transition  to  the  other  orders  of  Discoplacentalia;  and  for 
these  as  well  as  other  reasons  the  now  living  Prosimije  may  be  regarded  as  the  last 
remnant  of  a  very  ancient  and  for  the  most  part  long  since  extinct  ancestral  group, 
from  which  the  remaining  orders  of  the  Discoplacentalia  have  branched  off,  and 
in  which,  so  to  speak,  like  four  sisters,  they  had  their  common  root  or  ancestress. 
Consequently  the  human  race  also  has  to  seek  its  primeval  ancestors  in  the  Pro- 
simis,  separated  from  which  it  is  by  the  intermediate  form  of  the  true  apes. 
From  them  Haeckel  traces  the  genealogy  of  the  human  race  further  backwards, 
through  the  Marsupial,  Ornithorhynchian,  Amphibian  and  Piscine  stages,  to  the 
so-called  Leptocardia,  which  appear  to  be  the  lowest  stage  of  the  vertebrate  type, 
(being  without  head,  heart  or  limbs,  &c.),  and  are  themselves  the  product  of  a 
very  long  process  of  development  out  of  the  still  lower  worms,  and  finally  out  of 
the  most  simple  conceivable  primitive  organism  (monad). 

t  The  dentition,  as  is  well  known,  furnishes  a  very  characteristic  indication  of 
affinity  among  the  Mammalia,  and  is  therefore  of  high  systematic  value.  But  it 
is  not  merely  by  the  number,  but  also  by  the  kind  and  general  structure  of  the 
teeth,  and  by  their  earliest  development,  that  man  and  the  true  apes,  especially 
the  Gorilla,  are  brought  so  near  together. 


WHAT    ARE    WE  .''  I07 

all  Other  similarities  or  agreements  in  structure.  Only  a  low 
and  small  section  of  this  order,  the  Marmosets  of  America, 
differ  rather  widely  from  man  in  having  the  fingers  and  toes 
armed  with  daws,  instead  oi  nails,  such  as  are  possessed  by  man 
and  the  other  apes.  The  Marmosets  are  placed  by  Huxley  as 
the  fourth  of  the  seven  families  established  by  him  in  his  highest 
order,  and  Haeckel  also  leaves  them  in  the  order  Primates, 
regarding  them  as  a  peculiarly  developed  lateral  branch  of  the 
Platyrrhini.  Among  the  Catarrhini  themselves  the  Lipocerci 
or  tail-less  forms  approach  most  nearly  to  man  and  are  therefore 
called  Anthropoid  or  man-like  apes.  Under  any  circumstances, 
according  to  Haeckel,  the  anatomical  and  structural  differences 
betvi'een  man  and  the  man-like  Catarrhini  are  less  than  those 
between  the  latter  and  the  lowest  representatives  of  the 
Catarrhini  group,  such  as  the  Baboon  for  example.* 

Of  the  Anthropoid  apes  there  are  now  existing  only  four 
genera,  with  about  a  dozen  distinct  species;  these  are  the  well 
known  Gorilla,  Chimpanzee,  and  Orang-Outan  and  the  Gibbons, 
the  last  also  named  long-armed  apes.  Each  of  these  animals 
has  certain  peculiarities  in  which  it  approaches  nearest  to  man: 
thus  the  Orang  approaches  nearer  than  all  the  rest  by  the  struc- 
ture of  the  brain  and  the  number  of  its  convolutions  ;  the  Chim- 
panzee by  the  structure  of  its  skull  and  its  dentition;  the  Gorilla 
by  the  formation  of  its  limbs  or  extremities,  and  the  Gibbon  finally 
by  the  structure  of  its  thorax.  In  perfect  accordance  with  this 
peculiar  condition  of  things,  the  Simian  resemblances  of  the 
lower  races  of  man  are  in  like  manner  by  no  means  concentrated 
in  any  one  tribe,  but  are  distributed  among  different  peoples  in 
such  a  manner  that  each  tribe  is  endowed  with  some  inheritance 
from  this  relationship,  some  more,  others  less,  as  Dr.  Weissbach 

*The  Catarrhini  in  general  may  be  divided  into  two  great  sections, —  the  tailed 
and  the  tail-less.  The  first  of  these  sections  includes  the  Baboons,  Macaques, 
true  Monkeys,  (Cercopithecus,)  Slender  Monkeys,  (Setnnopithecus,)  Thumbless 
Monkeys,  {Colobus,)  and  Proboscis  Monkeys;  the  second  includes  the  Gibbons, 
Chimpanzees,  Orang-Outans,  and  Gorilla. 


I08  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

has  ascertained  by  the  comparison  of  the  measurements  of  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  body  in  different  races  of  man  collefted  by 
Scherzer  and  Schwarz  on  the  voyage  of  the  Novara  Frigate, 
(Vienna,  1867,)  with  corresponding  measurements  of  the  Orang. 
According  to  this  writer  the  Austrahan  has  the  most  resem- 
blance to  the  apes  in  the  length  and  breadth  of  his  foot,  the 
slenderness  of  his  legs,  his  broad  nose  and  wide  mouth,  and  the 
length  of  his  arms  ;  whilst  other  anthropologists  consider  that 
in  the  lateral  compression  of  his  skull,  the  greater  number  of  his 
teeth,  the  later  ossification  of  the  intermaxillary  bone,  his  smaller 
brain  and  the  greater  symmetry  of  its  convolutions,  as  also  in 
his  long  arms  and  narrow  pelvis,  the  negro  presents  the  greatest 
anatomical  resemblance  to  the  apes.  Some  of  the  Platyrrhini 
or  flat-nosed  American  Monkeys  also  possess  man-like  charac- 
ters. We  find  among  them  skulls  of  a  fine,  rounded  form, 
with  considerable  development  of  the  brain-case  and  compara- 
tively small  projection  of  the  muzzle,  and  in  strict  accordance 
with  all  this  frequently  a  very  man-like  countenance.  Thus  the 
Saimiri  has  a  facial  angle*  of  65  to  66  degrees,  whilst  in  man 
this  angle  averages  from  70  to  80  degrees,  (in  the  Caucasians 
80  to  85,  in  the  Negroes  65  to  70,)  and  in  the  true  Anthro- 
poids never  amounts  to  more  than  50  degrees, f  and  thus  the 
Saimiri  agrees  in  this  respect  completely  with  the  Neanderthal 
skull  described  in  the  first  part  of  this  book,  the  facial  angle  of 
which  was  also  estimated  at  65  to  66  degrees.  According  to 
Giebel,  indeed,  it  is  only  their  size  that  gives  the  three  first- 

*  The  facial  angle  of  Camper  is  formed  by  two  lines,  one  of  which  touches  the 
most  projecting  points  of  the  frontal  bone  and  upper  jaw,  whilst  the  second  is 
drawn  from  the  orifice  of  the  ear  to  the  bottom  of  the  nasal  cavity.  The  more 
acute  the  angle  thus  formed,  the  more  bestial  in  general  is  the  face,  whilst  it  be- 
comes more  elevated  and  human  in  character  in  proportion  as  the  angle  ap>- 
proaches  a  right  angle,  (90  degrees,)  because  under  these  circumstances  the 
capsule  of  the  skull,  which  contains  the  brain,  acquires  a  preponderance  over  the 
essential  parts  of  the  face  or  muzzle. 

+  The  young  of  the  Anthropoid  apes  however  constitute  an  exception  to  this 
rule.  Thus  in  the  young  Orang,  which  possesses  a  very  beautifully  arched,  well 
formed  and  man-like  skull,  the  facial  angle  rises  to  67  degrees. 


WHAT    ARE   WE?  IO9 

mentioned  Anthropoid  apes  their  man-Hke  character,  whilst,  as 
regards  corporeal  structure,  some  American  Monkeys,  and  the 
Gibbons  of  which  several  distinct  species  exist  in  southern  Asia, 
are  decidedly  more  anthropomorphous.  The  anthropoid  apes, 
two  forms  of  which,  (Gorilla  and  Chimpanzee,)  live  in  Africa, 
and  two,  (Orang  and  Gibbon,)  in  Asia,  have  only  been  accu- 
rately known  in  recent  times,  so  that  even  the  great  Cuvier, 
(who  died  in  1832,)  could  regard  them  as  creations  of  the 
imagination  of  his  colleague  Buffon.  Now,  however,  all  the 
considerable  zoological  gardens  and  museums  of  Europe 
possess  living  or  dead  examples  of  them.  It  was  only  by 
report  that  early  fabulous  accounts  of  the  existence  of  such 
animals  in  distant  regions  of  the  earth  had  penetrated  to 
Europe,  and  upon  these  Professor  Huxley  gives  us  interesting 
information,*  together  w^ith  a  sketch  of  the  natural  history  of 
the  anthropoid  apes,  in  the  first  of  the  three  memoirs  which 
he  has  published  under  the  title  oi  Evidence  as  to  man' s  place  in 
nature. 

His  statements,  however,  although  made  only  about  six 
years  ago,  have  already  in  some  respects  become  antiquated, 
at  least  with  regard  to  the  Gorilla,  ( Troglodytes  Gorilla  or 
Gorilla  Gina,)  the  last  discovered  and  at  the  same  time  the 
most  remarkable  of  the  four  anthropoid  forms.  This  animal 
is  very  large,  has  very  man-like  limbs,  and,  when  moving 
upon  level  ground,  takes  a  half  erect  posture.  Du  Chaillu's 
narratives  of  his  extraordinary  strength  and  savage  nature  seem 
to  be  exaggerated.  It  is  possible  that  the  Gorilla  was  seen  by 
the  Carthaginian  sailor,  Hanno,  who,  in  the  year  510  B.  C. , 
sailed  with  a  fleet  round  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  and  found 
wild,  hairy  men  which  he  named  Gorillas  upon  an  island  in 
a  gulf 

The  Gorilla  is  at  any  rate  of  the  four  anthropoid  apes  the  one 
which,  notwithstanding  certain  very  bestial  characters,  never- 

♦  See  Appendix  No.   i8. 


no  MAN   IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

theless  shows  the  most  striking  approximations  in  his  structure 
to  the  human  form,  and  partly  for  this  reason,  partly  on  account 
of  the  strange  stories  related  of  him,  he  has  attracted  a  remarka- 
ble amount  of  general  attention  during  the  last  few  years.  Of 
all  the  anthropoid  apes  he  is  especially  characterized  by  the 
fact  that  in  consequence  of  the  structure  of  his  foot  and  of  the 
muscles  of  his  leg  he  is  able  with  the  least  comparative  effort  to 
stand  and  walk  upright,  and  at  the  same  time  possesses  the 
most  human  forms  of  hand,  although  in  other  respects,  espe- 
cially in  the  formation  o'"the  skull  and  brain,  he  is  exceeded  in 
resemblance  to  man  by  some  other  apes.* 

All  this  shows  clearly  enough  that  the  separation  of  man 
from  the  Mammalia  which  approach  him  most  closely  as  a 
distin6l  order  or  class,  or  even  as  forming  a  distinct  human 
kingdom,  can  no  longer  be  maintained  in  the  present  position 
of  science,  and  that  the  entire  conception  which  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  this  separation  must  be  reje6led  even  from  the 
points  of  view  opened  to  us  by  systematic  zoology.  But  in 
order  to  advance  as  securely  as  possible  with  regard  to  this 
important  point  we  add  to  the  evidence  of  English  and  German 
naturalists  already  cited,  the  no  less  clearly  expressed  opinion  of 
a  French  zoologist  of  the  most  modern  school.  In  an  excellent 
book  upon  the  Plurality  of  Human  Races,  (Paris,  1864,)  M. 
Georges  Pouchet,  rejecting  the  notion  of  the  existence  of  a 
distinct  human  kingdom  as  set  up  by  Geoffroy  Saint-Hilaire 
and  De  Quatrefages,  declares  that  in  his  physical  or  corporeal 
structure  man  stands  in  the  closest  juxtaposition  to  the  anthro- 
pomorphous apes,  and  that  this  is  a  fact  which  no  one  can 
seriously  dispute.  And  this  resemblance,  according  to  him, 
does  not  exist  merely  in  external  form,  but  we  find  it  to  be 
much  greater  when  we  resort  to  the  careful  examination  of  the 
internal  parts  and  most  essential  organs,  or  to  the  microscopic 
investigation  of  the  anatomical  constituents  of  the  body.     We 

♦See  Appendix  No.  19. 


WHAT   ARE   WE?  Ill 

can  only  come  to  the  establishment  of  a  distinct  "human  king- 
dom" when  we  compare  the  two  extremes, — the  highly  culti- 
vated European,  elevated  and  ennobled  by  inherited  qualities 
from  generation  to  generation  through  thousands  of  years,  with 
the  brute  animal, — overlooking  the  innumerable  intermediate 
grades  which  unite  them.  Even  the  ideas  of  good  and  evil  or 
of  GoddiXiA  immortality,  upon  which,  in  the  absence  of  essential 
corporeal  differential  characters,  M.  de  Quatrefages  thought 
he  might  found  his  human  kingdom,  do  not  exist  among  all 
peoples,  but  are  either  entirely  wanting  or  in  the  highest  degree 
discrepant.  From  the  animal  to  man  there  is  only  an  uninter- 
rupted gradation  or  chain  of  allied  links,  and  the  same  scientific 
method  must  be  applied  to  both.  The  order  Bimana,  (as  dis- 
tinguishing man  from  the  ape,)  is,  according  to  Pouchet,  only 
a  creation  of  the  writing  table,  and  could  only  have  been  in- 
vented in  a  country  in  which  the  covering  of  the  feet  is 
universal,  for  the  uncovered  foot  of  man,  when  not  spoiled  by 
the  customs  of  civilized  life,  in  reality  forms  an  admirable  pre- 
hensile organ  and  is  employed  as  such  by  nearly  half  the  tribes 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.*  Hence  man  might  be  described  as 
quadrumanous  with  quite  as  much  justice  as  the  apes,  and 
most  certainly  he  cannot  be  regarded  as  forming  a  distin6l 
order,  but  only  a  distinct  family  of  the  group  of  Mammals 
hitherto  characterized  as  Quadrumana. 

So  much  for  the  consideration  of  man  and  his  relationship  to 

*  E.  Goeffroy  saw  how  the  artificers  in  the  bazaars  at  Cairo  made  use  of  their 
great  toe  for  a  thousand  purposes  of  grasping  or  seizing. — A  Nubian,  or  negro, 
on  horse-back  prefers  to  taice  the  reins  between  the  great  toe  and  the  other  toes ; 
and  all  Abyssinian  horsemen  ride  in  this  manner. — The  negroes  on  the  dahabiehs 
or  passenger-boats  that  navigate  the  Nile,  climb  the  main-sail  yard  by  seizing  the 
sail-rope  with  their  foot. — Modera  narrates  that  one  day  three  naturalists  in  the 
north  of  New  Guinea  beheld  the  trees  full  of  natives  of  both  sexes,  who,  with  their 
arms  behind  them,  were  leaping  from  branch  to  branch,  gesticulating  like  apes, 
screaming  and  laughing. — G    Pouchf.t. 

Further  examples  of  the  use  cf  the  human  foot  as  an  organ  for  grasping  may 
be  seen  in  my  Vorlesuugen  iiber  die  Darwin' sche  Theorie,  pp.  197,  198,  and  how 
very  common  this  use  appears  to  be  among  wild  races  in  general  who  live  partly 
in  trees.  In  the  same  direction  points  the  peculiar  circumstance  that  among  these 
people  the  great  toe  is,  as  a  rule,  much  further  removed  Irom  the  other  toes  than 
among  Europeans,  who  by  constantly  clothing  and  squeezing  the  foot  have  more 
or  less  alienated  it  from  its  original  destination. 


112  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

the  animal  world  from  the  standpoint  of  systematic  zoology. 
As  a  matter  of  course  the  result  thus  attained  is  perfectly  in 
accordance  with  that  furnished  by  general  and  comparative 
anatomy,  or  the  study  of  the  general  and  special  anatomical 
structure  of  the  body  in  the  different  classes  of  animals,  a 
science  which,  since  Cuvier's  time,  has  become  so  amalga- 
mated with  systematic  zoology  that  it  is  no  longer  possible  to 
separate  them.  As  the  principal  parts  or  organs  of  the  human 
body  agree  most  perfectly  in  all  essential  particulars  both  of 
external  form  and  internal  composition  with  the  corresponding 
parts  of  animals,  especially  the  Mammalia  and  their  highest 
representatives.  Indeed,  so  much  is  this  the  case,  that,  as  is 
pretty  generally  known,  for  thousands  of  years  men  had  no 
means  of  getting  a  knowledge  of  the  human  body,  except  by  the 
dissedlion  of  the  bodies  of  animals.  Before  men  ventured,  in 
opposition  to  the  general  prejudice,  to  dissect  human  bodies, 
the  sole  aid  to  the  knowledge  of  human  anatomy  was  the  dis- 
section of  Mammalia,  and  by  this  means  they  were  as  well 
instrudled  as  to  the  esse^itial  parts  of  the  human  frame,  as  we 
are  at  the  present  day.  The  celebrated  surgeon,  Galen,  of 
Pergamos,  who  lived  in  the  second  century  of  our  era  and  set 
up  a  system  of  medicine  which  maintained  its  predominance  for 
nearly  fourteen  centuries,  studied  the  structure  of  the  body 
only  on  the  carcasses  of  apes,  which  he  had  at  once  recognized 
as  the  most  man-like  in  form  of  all  animals  ;  and  as  late  as  the 
sixteenth  century  anatomy  was  taught  and  studied  only  from 
the  skeleton  of  a  Monkey,  (the  Magot  or  Inmais  sylvanus.) 
Vesal  or  Vesalius,  the  body-surgeon  of  the  Emperor  Charles  the 
Fifth  and  of  Philip  the  Second  of  Spain,  was  the  first  who 
ventured  to  dissect  human  bodies,  and  in  so  doing  was  so  un- 
fortunate that  during  his  dissection  of  the  body  of  a  young 
Spanish  nobleman  who  had  been  under  his  treatment,  the 
heart  began  to  beat.  In  accordance  with  the  imperfect  physi- 
ological notions  of  that  age  it  was  believed  that  Vesalius  had 


WHAT   ARE   WE  ?  II3 

dissected  a  living  man,  and  in  order  to  expiate  this  great  crime 
the  celebrated  anatomist  was  obliged  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to 
the  Holy  Land,  on  his  return  from  which  he  perished  by  ship- 
wreck. 

How  great  the  anatomical  similarity  between  man  and  ape 
must  be,  may  be  seen  from  the  words  of  the  celebrated  anato- 
mist. Professor  Owen,  who  has  studied  the  subject  the  most 
carefully  of  all  living  anatomists,  and  whose  opinion  bears  the 
more  weight,  because  he  has  taken  his  stand  on  the  side 
opposed  to  the  view  here  maintained,  and  places  man  and  the 
apes  in  distinct  sub-classes,  although  not  upon  purely  anato- 
mical grounds. 

In  a  paper,  On  the  characters  of  Mammalia,  (Journal  of  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Linnean  Society  of  London  for  1857,)  Owen 
says: — "Not  being  able  to  appreciate  or  conceive  of  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  psychical  phenomena  of  a  Chimpanzee  and 
of  a  Boschisman  or  of  an  Aztec,  with  arrested  brain-growth,  as 
being  of  a  nature  so  essential  as  to  preclude  a  comparison 
between  them,  or  as  being  other  than  a  difference  of  degree, 
I  cannot  shut  my  eyes  to  the  significance  of  that  all-pervading 
similitude  of  structure  —  every  tooth,  every  bone,  strictly  ho- 
mologous—  which  makes  the  determination  of  the  difference 
between  Homo  and  Pifhecus  the  anatomist's  difficulty.  And 
therefore  ...  I  follow  Linnaeus  and  Cuvier  in  regarding 
mankind  as  a  legitimate  subject  of  zoological  comparison  and 
classification. ' '  * 

Of  course  all  this  cannot  make  the  anatomical  difference 
between  man  and  his  nearest  allies  in  the  series  of  Mammalia 
any  less  than  it  really  is,  and  it  is  indeed  so  great  that  the  first 
glance  generally  suffices  to  enable  the  practised  anatomist  to 
recognise  any  characteristic  part  of  the  body,  especially  of  the 

*  "Surely  it  is  a  little  singular,"  says  Huxley,  after  citing  the  above  passage, 
"that  the  'anatomist'  who  finds  it  'difficult'  to  'determine  the  difference'  between 
Homo  and  Pithecus,  should  yet  range  them,  on  anatomical  grounds,  in  distinct 
sub-classes  I" 


114  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

skeleton  or  bony  framework,  as  belonging  either  to  man  or  to 
an  animal.  But  the  distinftion  does  not  affect  the  systems  or 
organs  themselves,  such  as  the  bones,  muscles,  nerves,  blood- 
vessels, viscera,  etc.,  which  both  in  their  coarser  parts  and  in 
their  more  minute  chemical  and  microscopic  constitution  pre- 
sent pecisely  the  same  kinds  of  form  and  arrangement ;  it  is 
rather  a  difference  of  degree,  size  and  development.  Some- 
times it  is  in  a  greater  delicacy  of  details,  a  higher  and  better 
development  of  particular  parts  or  organs,  that  the  human 
structure  exceeds  the  animal;  or  the  special  arrangement  of  the 
entire  stru6lure  acquires  a  peculiar  or  divergent  formation,  as  is 
especially  seen  in  the  structure  of  the  osseous  and  muscular 
systems,  in  that  of  the  trachea,  the  brain,  etc.*  But  even 
these  peculiarities  of  structure  in  man  often  indicate  most 
definitely  his  animal  relationships.  Thus  in  dissecting  the 
human  body  we  not  unfrequently  find  in  the  muscular  system, 
(which,  as  is  well  known,  has  a  greater  tendency  to  individual 
variation  than  any  other  part,)  peculiarities  of  arrangement  in 
certain  bodies  closely  resembling  those  occurring  in  the  apes ; 
and  according  to  Dr.  Duncan,  (  Transactions  of  the  Anthropo- 
logical Society  of  London,  i86g,)  this  condition  of  things  may 
even  go  so  far,  that  he  regards  it  as  an  indisputable  fact,  that 
the  anomalies  or  abnormal  variations  in  the  origin  and  insertion 
of  the  muscles  in  man  constitute  the  normal  or  regular  condi- 
tion in  the  apes.  Professor  Hyrtl,  in  his  Human  Anatomy,  also 
particularly  cites  a  number  of  such  variations  in  the  muscles, 
presenting  an  analogy  or  correspondence  either  with  animal 
stru6ture  in  general  or  with  that  of  the  apes  in  particular,  and 
indeed  some  of  these  variations  are  actually  described  by  him 
as  "Ape-structures."  Precisely  in  the  same  manner,  the  first 
or  milk-dentition  of  man  possesses  a  remarkable  similarity  to 
that  of  the  apes,  and  it  is  only  the  second  dentition  that  ac- 
quires the  true  human  form.     The  stru6lure  of  the  three  noblest 

*  See  Appendix  No.  20. 


WHAT    ARE    WE?  115 

organs  of  sense,  (those  of  sight,  hearing  and  touch,)  also  shows 
an  agreement  between  man  and  the  apes  which  is  wanting  to 
all  other  Mammalia;  this  is  treated  in  more  detail  in  the  au- 
thor's LeHures  on  Darwin,  (page  185.) 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  the  results  obtained  by 
means  of  comparative  anatomy  are  completed  and  confirmed 
by  the  revelations  of  comparative  physiology  or  the  study  of 
the  functions  of  the  body  in  the  different  classes  of  animals,  and 
in  man  himself.  As  the  structure  and  fun6lion  of  an  organ  or 
living  part  of  the  body  are  known  by  observation  to  be  always 
necessarily  in  accordance  so  long  as  there  is  no  disturbance  of 
equilibrium  by  illness  or  defective  development,  the  above- 
mentioned  result  seems  to  be  a  matter  of  course  even  upon 
theoretical  grounds ;  and  although  man  is  somewhat  or  even 
very  superior  to  animals  physiologically,  this  is  only  to  this 
extent,  that  his  physical  or  corporeal  organization  is  distin- 
guished from  that  of  animals  by  its  higher  and  finer  develop- 
ment, its  more  complicated  structure,  by  an  increase  in  the 
division  of  labor,  by  better  adaptation,  or  by  the  greater  develop- 
ment of  certain  particularly  important  organs,  and  thus  is  en- 
abled to  perform  operations  which  are  impossible  to  animals. 
Nevertheless,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  bodily  stru6lure,  there 
is  nothing  more  than  difference  of  degree  or  of  development, 
and  this  development  commences  even  with  the  lowest  forms 
of  all,  and  from  these  ascends  gradually,  but  always  under  the 
stri6l  observance  of  the  the  same  universally  prevalent  laws  of 
life.  Hence,  investigators  of  these  laws  of  Hfe,  physiologists  as 
they  are  called,  like  the  anatomists  of  former  days,  have  never 
possessed  any  means  of  obtaining  information  as  to  the  physio- 
logical processes  which  occur  in  the  human  body  of  more  im- 
portance than  investigations  and  experiments  on  animals.  We 
may  indeed  say  that  three-fourths  of  our  knowledge  of  human 
physiology  or  of  the  laws  of  human  life  have  been  acquired  in  this 
way,  and  that  this  knowledge  is  no  less  accurate  than  it  would 


Il6  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

have  been  had  the  observations  been  made  upon  man  himself.  So 
far  as  observations  of  this  later  kind  are  possible  they  have  always 
confirmed  the  results  obtained  by  the  study  of  animals  and  the 
conclusions  derived  from  them,  either  entirely  or  with  very  slight 
modifications  due  to  the  difference  of  human  structure;  they  have 
shown  that  the  fundamental  laws  of  life  are  the  same  and  unalter- 
able in  all  living  creatures.  For  instance  when  the  cut  nerve  in 
the  thigh  of  a  frog,  (certainly  a  low  form  of  animal,)  contracts 
or  reacts  when  irritated,  it  does  this  in  exactly  or  almost  exactly 
the  same  way  as  the  nerve  of  a  man  would  have  done  if  simi- 
larly treated;  and  when  the  chest  of  an  animal  is  laid  open  and 
the  beating  of  the  heart,  or  the  working  of  the  lungs  is  ob- 
served, we  have  before  us,  with  only  a  very  slight  difference, 
precisely  the  same  spectacle  that  would  have  been  presented  to 
us  if  we  saw  the  opened  chest  of  a  living  man.  In  the  animal, 
as  in  man,  the  eye  serves  for  vision,  the  ear  for  hearing,  the 
tongue  for  tasting,  the  stomach  for  digestion,  and  the  liver  for 
the  secretion  of  bile;  the  feet  serve  for  locomotion,  the  lungs 
for  breathing,  the  kidneys  for  the  separation  of  water,  etc.  By 
means  of  chloroform  the  animal  is  stupefied  just  like  the  man ; 
they  live,  sicken  and  die  by  the  same  processes  and  causes. 
Hence  the  obje6lion  that  we  so  often  meet  with  in  anti-material- 
istic controversial  writings,  that  the  knowledge  gained  from  the 
study  of  animals  cannot  be  applied  to  man,  who  is  not  an 
animal  but  something  quite  different,  namely,  a  man.  only 
betrays  the  grossest  and  most  absurd  ignorance  of  physi- 
ological science  or  of  the  laws  of  life.  Even  so-called  savants, 
especially  out  of  the  philosophical  camp,  are  in  the  habit  of 
pluming  themselves  upon  wisdom  of  this  kind,  which  reminds 
us  of  the  time  of  Moses  or  of  the  land  of  the  Phaeacians.* 

The  particular  bodily  organ  or  system,  by  which  chiefly  man 
is  man,  which  together  with  his  other  advantages,  (such  as  the 
structure  of  his  hand,  his  ere6l  attitude,  his  articulate   speech, 
*  See  Appendix  No.  21. 


WHAT    ARE   WE?  II7 

etc.,)  gives  him  his  principal  superiority  over  the  animal,  and 
which  is  therefore  characterized  in  man  by  a  strength  of  de- 
velopment not  witnessed  elsewhere,  is  the  brain  in  combina- 
tion with  the  nervous  system.  This  noblest  and  most  important 
of  all  organs,  with  which  all  the  mental  or  intellectual  activities 
known  to  us  both  in  man  and  animals  are  indissolubly  con- 
nected, is  constructed  in  the  Vertebrata  in  accordance  with  a 
grand  and  general  fundamental  plan,  which  commences  in  the 
fishes  and  from  these  animals  upwards  becomes  further  de- 
veloped, constantly  increasing  in  distinctness  and  power,  prob- 
ably under  the  influence  of  such  momenta  or  causes  as  Darwin 
has  described  in  his  immortal  work  on  Natural  SeleBion. 
The  greatest  step  in  this  upward  development  and  advance 
towards  perfe6lion  of  structure  is  not,  however,  made  by  the 
brain  at  the  point  where  we  might  perhaps  have  expected  it, 
namely,  between  the  animals  and  man,  but  in  a  much  lower 
position,  between  the  marsupial  and  placental  Mammals;  for 
here  a  perfectly  new  stru6lure,  the  great  commissure,  makes 
its  appearance  and  unites  the  two  halves  of  the  cerebrum  which 
were  previously  separate.  From  this  point  onwards  the  two 
great  hemispheres  of  the  brain,  the  most  important  portions, 
intellectually,  of  the  whole  organ,  constantly  increase  in  size 
and  in  the  complication  of  their  structure,  and  arch  over  the 
cerebellum  more  and  more,  until  finally,  by  a  complete  series 
of  gradual  modifications,  they  attain  their  highest  development 
in  the  apes  and  in  man,  in  which  they  are  exactly  alike  in  all 
essential  parts.  For  different  as  the  brains  of  man  and  of  the 
apes  may  be  in  size  and  development,  it  has  nevertheless  been 
demonstrated  by  numerous  anatomical  investigations  of  the 
most  careful  kind,  that  all  the  essential  parts  and  relations  of 
the  human  brain  are  perfectly  prefigured  in  animals,  and  that 
the  superiority  of  man  is  due  solely  to  the  comparatively  high 
development  of  these  parts,  combined  with  a  considerably 
increased  size  of  the  whole  organ.     This  important  truth  cannot 


Il8  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

be  better  illustrated  than  by  the  recent  attempt  of  one  of  the 
greatest  of  living  anatomists,  Professor  Owen,  to  establish  upon 
the  brain  and  its  structure  a  specifically  distinctive  character 
between  man  and  animals.  He  affirmed  that  the  complete 
over-arching  and  concealment  of  the  cerebellum  by  the  cerebral 
hemispheres,  the  existence  of  the  hinder  horn  of  the  great 
lateral  cavity  of  the  brain  and  the  presence  of  the  so-called  pes 
Hippocampi  minor,  an  elongated  white  swelling  on  the  floor  of 
this  hinder  horn,  are  all  peculiarities  of  the  human  brain  which 
do  not  occur  in  animals,  and  with  which,  therefore,  peculiar 
and  high  intellectual  powers  must  also  be  united.  Taking  his 
stand  upon  these  assertions  Owen  thought  that  he  had  a  right, 
from  a  systematic  zoological  point  of  view,  to  regard  man  as 
forming  a  distinct  sub-class  of  Mammalia,  which  he  called 
Archeyicephala  or  "brain-rulers." 

This  remarkable  statement  at  once  gave  rise  to  a  whole 
series  of  anatomical  investigations  upon  the  brain  of  the  apes 
and  to  a  philosophical  dispute  of  which  the  details  may  be 
found  in  Huxley's  well-known  Essay  on  Man  s  Place  vi  Nature, 
and  also  in  the  author's  Lectures  on  Darwiri,  (2nd  edition, 
pp.  182,  et  seq).  This  dispute  ended  in  the  demonstration  of 
the  exact  contrary  of  Owen's  assertions  in  so  evident  a  manner, 
that  finally  their  author  himself  found  it  necessary  to  retract 
them  publicly,  although  at  the  same  time  he  declared  his  ad- 
herence to  his  classificational  views  already  indicated,  support- 
ing them  by  the  consideration  of  the  general  high  development 
of  the  different  parts  of  the  brain.*  Now  it  is  true  that,  not 
merely  in  size,  but  also  in  the  comparatively  higher  develop- 
ment of  its  individual  parts,  and  especially  in  the  number,  depth 
and  want  of  symmetry  of  the  superficial  convolutions,  and  in 
correspondence  therewith  in  the  comparatively  stronger  devel- 
opment of  the  gray  substance,  (which,  as  is  well-known,  must 
be  regarded  as  the  true  seat  of  mental  or  intellectual  activity,) 

*  See  Appendix  No.  22. 


WHAT   ARE   WE?  II9 

the  human  brain  far  exceeds  that  of  the  Mammalia  most  nearly 
allied  to  him;  but  all  these  superiorities  are  relative  and  not 
absolute,  and  in  their  details  are  already  indicated  or  prefigured 
in  the  brains  of  the  apes  in  such  a  manner  that  the  ape's  brain 
may  to  a  certain  extent  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  sketch  or  model, 
which  has  merely  been  more  accurately  worked  out  in  man.* 

"The  surface  of  the  brain  of  a  monkey,"  says  Huxley, 
"exhibits  a  sort  of  skeleton  map  of  man's,  and  in  the  man-like 
apes  the  details  become  more  and  more  filled  in,  until  it  is  only 
in  minor  characters,  such  as  the  greater  excavation  of  the  an- 
terior lobes,  the  constant  presence  of  fissures  usually  absent  in 
man,  and  the  different  disposition  and  proportions  of  some 
convolutions  that  the  Chimpanzee's  or  the  Orang's  brain  can 
be  structurally  distinguished  from  Man's."  f 

Now  as  the  brain  is  the  sole  and  exclusive  organ  of  thought, 
and  as  all  intellectual  power  goes  parallel  with  its  size,  its  de- 
velopment and  its  grade  of  structure  in  general,  just  as  every 
physiological  function  depends  upon  the  size,  form  and  com- 
position of  the  organ  which  subserves  it,  it  cannot  be  doubtful, 

*  On  this  affair  of  Professor  Owen,  and  on  the  general  question  of  man's 
place  in  nature,  Prof.  Broca,  in  his  Report  for  1863,  (Report  on  the  Transactions 
of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris),  expresses  himself  as  follows  : — 

"  From  the  zoological  or  anatomical  point  of  view,  man  differs  less  from  the 
four  higher  Apes  than  they  do  from  the  rest  of  the  apes.  With  them  he  consti- 
tutes a  natural  group,  the  Anthropomorpha,  of  which  he  forms  only  the  first 
subdivision ;  and  our  learned  colleague,  Prof.  Charles  Marlins,  of  Montpellier, 
has  made  us  acquainted  with  two  new  osteological  characters  which  are  met  with 

in  this  group  alone Man  is  man  through  his  intellect ;  and  if  he  be 

distinct  from  the  lower  animals,  he  must  be  so  by  virtue  of  his  brain,  which  is 
the  organ  of  intelligence.  Nevertheless  anatomy  finds  between  the  brain  of  the 
chimpanzee  and  that  of  the  lord  of  the  earth  only  slight  differences  of  form  and 
constitution,  which  have  been  pointed  out  by  M.  Auburtin.  The  distinctive 
marks  asserted  by  Prof.  Owen  have  been  repeatedly  recognized  as  inaccurate. 
The  higher  apes,  like  ourselves,  possess  a  posterior  lobe  of  the  cerebrum,  a  poste- 
rior cornu  of  the  large  lateral  ventricle  of  the  brain,  and  a  hippocampus  minor; 
and  nothing  in  the  order  of  things,  except  the  very  considerab'e  difference  of 
volume  and  the  unequal  abundance  of  the  secondary  convolutions,  entitles  us  to 
assume  a  decided,  absolute  difference  between  the  brain  of  the  lowest  man  and 
that  of  the  highest  ape." 

+  See  Appendix  No.  23. 


I20  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

that  from  the  standpoint  of  the  materialistic  or  reahstic  philoso- 
phy the  intellectual  life  of  man  must  be  regarded  only  as  a 
higher  stage  of  development  of  the  faculties  which  are  dormant 
in  the  animal  world.  This  proposition  is  demonstrated  not 
only  by  the  above  theoretical  consideration,  but  also  by  direct 
comparison  of  the  minds  of  man  and  animals  and  by  a  thor- 
oughgoing examination  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  faculties 
characteristic  of  man,  both  in  the  civilized  and  in  the  savage 
state.  However,  before  going  further  into  this  matter,  we 
must,  in  order  to  be  able  to  judge  quite  correctly  of  the  position 
of  man  in  nature,  first  of  all  take  counsel  of  another  science, 
which  stands  in  such  intimate  connection  with  those  to  which 
we  have  hitherto  appealed,  (zoology,  anatomy  and  physiology,) 
that  it  cannot  be  treated  separately  from  them.  I  mean  the 
equally  modern  and  interesting  science  of  Developmental 
History. 

This  comparatively  modern  science  has  brought  to  light  a 
number  of  extremely  remarkable  facts,  which  can  leave  no 
doubts  in  the  minds  of  those  acquainted  with  its  results  as  to 
the  close  and  intimate  relationship  of  man  to  the  animal  world. 
These  facts,  however,  notwithstanding  their  great  importance 
and  significance,  are  unfortunately  still  entirely  or  almost  un- 
known in  many  circles;  nay,  even  some  naturalists,  zoologfists 
and  anatomists  sometimes  show  a  most  lamentable  ignorance 
of  these  facts  in  their  writings  and  statements,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  speculative  philosophers  and  theologians,  who  think  that 
they  can  attain  to  the  understanding  of  man  and  his  place  in 
nature  by  pure  thought,  or  by  Divine  inspiration,  whilst  in 
general  they  have  scarcely  a  suspicion  of  these  facts,  or  of  the 
true  laws  of  nature.  "Ignorance  and  superstition,"  says 
Haeckel  with  equal  pungency  and  truth,  "are  the  foundations 
upon  which  most  men  build  up  their  knowledge  of  their  own 
organism  and  of  its  relations  to  the  totality  of  things  ;  and  those 
plain  facts  of  the  history  of  development,  which  might  throw 


WHAT    ARE    WE!'  121 

over  it  the  light  of  truth,  are  ignored."  Indeed,  since  Darwin 
indicated  what  has  given  a  perfectly  new  direction  to  the  study 
of  organic  nature,  namely,  that  in  it  every  thing  depends  upon 
development,  proper  attention  has  been  paid  to  these  facts,  at 
least  on  the  part  of  the  younger  and  more  active  naturalists, 
and  their  great  significance  in  a  philosophical  consideration  of 
nature,  (which  indeed  cannot  be  too  highly  appreciated,)  has 
been  recognized.  This  significance  cannot  be  better  indicated 
than  in  the  following  words  of  Professor  Huxley:  "The  facts," 
he  says,  "to  which  I  would  first  direct  the  reader's  attention, 
though  ignored  by  many  of  the  professed  instructors  of  the 
public  mind,  are  easy  of  demonstration  and  are  universally 
agreed  to  by  men  of  science;  while  their  significance  is  so  great 
that  whoso  hath  duly  pondered  over  them  will,  I  think,  find 
little  to  startle  him  in  the  other  revelations  of  Biology." — Let 
us  now  pass  to  these  facts  themselves  and  give  an  account  of 
them  in  as  condensed  a  form  as  possible. 

Every  living  creature  whether  large  or  small,  high  or  low, 
simple  or  complex,  commences  its  earthly  existence  in  a  very 
simple  form,  infinitely  different  from  its  fully  developed  or 
perfect  state,  and  from  this  first  stage  to  its  final  development 
passes  through  a  whole  series  of  successive  changes  or  develop- 
mental stages.  These  stages  or  steps  have  now  become  per- 
fectly well-known,  by  the  investigations  of  embryology  or  the 
study  of  the  evolution  of  the  germ.  In  all  those  living  beings, 
Plants  or  animals,)  which  may  be  called  highly  organized,  the 
first  of  these  stages  is  the  formation  of  an  egg  or  germ -cell, 
whilst  in  the  lowest  forms  increase  or  propagation  is  usually 
effected  by  simple  division  of  the  general  substance  of  the  body 
into  two  or  more  separate  creatures,  or  by  budding,  (^gemma- 
tion,^ sprouting  and  the  like.* 

This  ovum  is  the  same  in  its  fundamental  structure  through- 
out the  organic  world,    only  differing  in  slight  variations  of 

*  See  Appendix  No.  24. 


122  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

form,  size,  color,  &c.*  We  are  here  specially  interested  only 
in  the  ovum  of  the  Mammalia  or  at  all  events  of  the  Vertebrata 
in  general,  and  this  appears  every  where  to  be  almost  the  same 
structure,  including  even  that  of  man,  whose  ovum  differs  so 
little  from  that  of  the  higher  Mammalia,  that  no  essential  dis- 
tinction can  be  demonstrated  between  them,  any  more  than 
between  the  ova  of  different  Mammalia.  ' '  There  is  not  much 
resemblance,"  says  Professor  Huxley  in  his  luminous  manner, 
' '  between  a  barn-door  fowl  and  the  dog  who  protects  the  farm- 
yard. Nevertheless  the  student  of  development  finds,  not  only 
that  the  chick  commences  its  existence  as  an  egg,  primarily 
identical  in  all  essential  respects,  with  that  of  the  Dog,  but 
that  the  yelk  of  this  egg  undergoes  division  —  that  the  primitive 
groove  arises,  and  that  the  contiguous  parts  of  the  germ  are 
fashioned,  by  precisely  similar  methods,  into  a  young  chick, 
which,  at  one  stage  of  its  existence,  is  so  like  the  nascent  Dog, 
that  ordinary  inspection  would  hardly  distinguish  between  the 
two." 

Here,  however,  we  must  not  have  the  ordinary  fowl's  egg  in 
our  minds,  as  this,  like  the  eggs  of  Birds  in  general,  or  of  the 
true  Reptiles,  is  distinguishable  at  the  first  glance  from  the  egg  . 
of  the  mammalia,  because  in  it  the  true  egg,  which  is  not  larger 
than  the  mammalian  egg  and  in  all  respects  behaves  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  manner,  has  been  surrounded  by  a  nutritive 
yelk,  (the  well-known  yelk  of  the  ^gg?)  which  is  easily  dis- 
tinguished from  the  formative  yelk  of  the  egg,  and  also  by  the 
albumen  and  shell  as  external  additions. 

By  means  of  these  additions  the  bird's  egg  brings  with 
it  into  the  world  ready  prepared  all  the  materials  necessary 
for  the  formation  of  the  young  bird,  whilst  the  egg  of  ihe 
Mammal  or  of  man  carries  with  it  from  the  ovary  into  the 
womb  only  the   supply   necessary  for  the  first   foundation  of 

*  For  further  details  upon  this  subject  see  the  author's  "  Physiologische  Biider," 
in  the  chapter  on  the  cell,  (pages  261  to  270.) 


WHAT    ARE    WE  .''  I23 

the  young  animal,  and  receives  all  subsequent  supplies  from 
the  maternal  organism.* 

The  same  facts  as  in  the  case  of  the  Fowl  and  Dog  are  re- 
vealed to  us  by  the  developmental  history  of  every  other  Verte- 
brate animal,  whether  it  be  a  Mammal,  a  bird,  a  lizard,  a  snake 
or  a  fish,  and  in  a  broad  sense  the  same  may  be  said  of  every 
organic  being.  Always  at  the  outset  and  at  the  moment  of  first 
formation  we  find  a  structure  which  we  call  an  egg,  and  which 
consists  of  a  small,  round,  very  delicate  body,  one-eighth  to 
one-tenth  of  a  line  in  diameter,  enclosed  by  a  firm  membrane 
and  filled  with  a  viscid  fluid  with  numerous  scattered  granules 
which  is  called  the  jye/k,  {yitellus.^  In  the  midst  of  this  yelk 
lies   the  beautiful    vesicular   nucleus,    one-fiftieth    of  a  line   in 

*Just  that  portion  of  the  fowl's  egg  which  from  its  minuteness  escapes  the  obser- 
vation C'f  the  novice  and  of  the  housewife  who  uses  the  egg  for  cooking  purposes, 
is  in  reality  the  most  important,  because  from  it  the  development  of  the  young 
being  begins.  It  is  only  after  this  ovule  or  proper  ovum  is  formed  in  the  ovary 
that  the  other  substances  which  complete  the  egg  (yelk,  white,  and  shell)  gradually 
take  their  places  around  it.  These  substances  contain  all  the  materials  necessary 
for  the  formation  of  the  young  chick,  as  fat,  albumen,  salts  of  lime,  &c. ,  out  of 
which  muscles,  nerves,  bones,  and  feathers  can  be  developed  ;  while  the  calcareous 
shell  enclosing  the  whole,  permits  by  its  porousness  the  entrance  and  exit  of  the 
necessary  gasses.  Now,  in  order  to  bring  about  the  development  of  this  crude 
amorphous  mass,  which  contains  within  so  small  a  space  all  the  elements  and  dis- 
positions necessary  for  tlie  formation  of  a  living  organic  being,  nothing  is  required 
but  warmth  and  a  comparatively  short  time,  during  which  the  simple  germ  con- 
tained in  the  yelk  undergoes  a  whole  series  of  well-known  stages  of  development 
or  formative  changes,  as  the  last  result  of  which  the  finished  chick  appears.  A 
more  striking  proof  of  the  spontaneous  activity  and  creative  force  of  Nature,  ex- 
cluding all  not  material  or  not  natural  influences,  cannot  be  found  I 

With  many  animals,  as  with  the  frog,  the  whole  of  this  metamorphoses  pro- 
ceeds outside  of  the  body  of  the  mother,  and  not  within  a  closed  shell,  but  openly, 
so  that  the  development  can  be  the  more  easily  observed  of  the  tadpole  into  the 
proper  frog. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  insect  world  also  presents  numerous  examples  of  this 
gradual  change  of  form  — a  change  which  is  often  so  considerable  that  only  scien- 
tific investigation  could  demonstrate  that  animal  forms  so  widely  different  in 
appearance  belonged  to  each  other.  Everywhere,  however,  wliether  we  contem- 
plate the  highest  or  the  lowest  grades  of  the  animal  world,  the  nature  and  the 
course  of  the  transformation  are  fundamentally  the  same  and  follow  the  same  im- 
mutable laws.  Hence,  infinitely  various  as  nature  appears  in  her  innumerable 
modes  of  manifestation  she  remains  fundamentally  ever  the  same,  single  and 
uniform  ! 


124  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

diameter,  with  its  clear  contents ;  it  is  also  known  as  the 
germinal  vesicle.  In  this  vesicle  again  a  still  smaller  body, 
(only  one-five-hundredth  of  a  line,)  is  enclosed;  this  is  the 
germinal  spot  or  inuleolar  corpuscle.  This,  as  well  as  the  ^%^ 
itself,  consists  of  an  albuminoid  mass. 

This  same  simple  and  similar  structure  then  is  exhibited  by 
the  &%^  in  all  the  higher  animals,  especially  the  Vertebrata, 
before  their  fertilization  by  the  semen  or  male  reproductive 
material.  The  remarkable  discovery  of  the  &'g^  of  the  Mam- 
malia and  of  man  in  its  place  of  origin,  (the  ovary, ^  was  made 
not  much  more  than  forty  years  ago  by  the  celebrated  embry- 
ologists  von  Baer.  The  detached  ^^^  on  its  migration  had 
however  been  previously  seen  in  the  oviduct. 

When  once  the  existence  of  the  ^^^  was  discovered  the  next 
thing  of  course  was  to  ascertain  the  further  course  of  its  develop- 
ment, and  to  observe  how  the  embryo  or  fcetus  was  gradually 
developed  from  the  fertilized  &^'g.  The  first  step  in  this  pro- 
gress is,  that  the  contents  of  the  egg-cell  undergo  the  re- 
markable process  called  seg7ne7itation,  in  which  the  originally 
amorphous  mass  of  the  yelk,  by  continual  division  and  sub- 
division, in  which  the  germinal  vesicle  and  its  nucleus  take  part, 
becomes  broken  up  into  an  aggregation  of  elementary  parts 
called  embryonal-cells.  These  cells  in  their  turn  are  capable  of 
all  possible  further  changes  of  form,  and  from  them  the  future 
organism  is  built  up  by  a  constantly  increasing  formation  of  new 
cells.  As  Huxley  admirably  expresses  it :  "  Nature,  by  this 
process,  has  attained  much  the  same  result  as  that  at  which  a 
human  artificer  arrives  by  his  operations  in  a  brickfield.  She 
takes  the  rough  plastic  material  of  the  yelk  and  breaks  it  up 
into  well-shaped  tolerably  even-sized  masses  —  handy  for  build- 
ing up  into  any  part  of  the  living  edifice.  .  .  .  Every  part, 
every  organ  is  at  first,  as  it  were,  pinched  up  rudely  and  sketched 
out  in  the  rough  ;  then  shaped  more  accurately  ;  and,  only,  at 
last,  receives  the  touches  which  stamp  its  final  character." 


WHAT    ARE    WE  ?  I25 

At  the  commencement  and  even  through  a  considerable 
period  of  embryonic  life*  this  goes  on  in  the  different  animals 
and  groups  of  animals  in  so  uniform  a  fashion,  that  the  young 
of  all  animals  are  almost  exactly  alike,  or  at  all  events  are  ver)' 
similar,  not  only  in  external  form  but  also  in  all  the  essentials 
of  their  structure,  however  different  may  be  the  form  of  the 
animal  subsequently  to  be  produced  from  them.  In  this  re- 
spect, therefore,  the  embryos  behave  exactly  like  the  egg  itself, 
which  is  found  almost  everywhere  to  present  at  first  the  same 
form  and  size.  From  a  certain  period  of  embryonic  life,  how- 
ever, the  differences  of  the  individual  forms  gradually  make 
their  appearance  and  become  more  and  more  distinct  as  the 
creature  under  observation  approaches  its  permanent  structure 
and  the  time  of  its  birth.  But  even  here  it  is  remarkable  that 
the  more  closely  individual  animals  resemble  each  other  in 
the  mature  state,  the  longer  and  more  closely  do  their  embryos 
also  resemble  each  other  ;  whilst  the  embryos  become  earlier 
and  more  distinctly  dissimilar  in  proportion  as  the  animals  to 
be  produced  from  them  differ  from  each  other  later  in  life. 
Thus,  for  example,  the  embryos  of  a  Snake  and  a  Lizard,  two 
forms  of  animals  which  are  comparatively  speaking  nearly  allied, 
resemble  each  other  in  appearance  longer  than  those  of  a  Snake 
and  a  Bird,  two  animals  which  are  very  far  removed  from  each 
other. 

*  The  exceedingly  important  facts  of  embryology,  or  the  science  of  the  gradual 
development  of  the  embryo  from  the  ovum,  were  first  established  about  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  by  the  great  German  naturalist  Caspar  Friedrich 
Wolf,  in  his  celebrated  Generations  Theorie.  Till  that  time  the  altogether 
false  belief  had  prevailed  that  in  the  ovum  was  contained  from  the  first  an  ex- 
ceedingly minute  but  yet  perfect  organic  being  in  the  form  of  the  future  animal, 
which  required  nothing  more  than  to  grow  larger  by  incorporating  the  nutriment 
supplied  by  the  media  surrounding  it.  The  ancients,  indeed,  were  generally  ac- 
quainted with  the  embryo  only  in  a  pretty  far  advanced  stage  of  development,  at 
which  the  form  of  the  future  animal  may  be  recognized  with  some  distinctness; 
and  certainly  this  gave  rise  to  the  theory  of  evolutio?!,  which  for  a  long  time 
dominated  science.  Now-a-days  this  theory  is  completely  displaced  by  Wolf's 
theory  of  epigenesis,  which  shared  the  fate  of  nearly  all  great  discoveries ;  for  it 
remained  unacknowledged  for  half  a  century,  until  Oken,  Meckel,  Baer  aod 
others  brought  it  into  credit. 


126  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

In  the  same  way,  and  for  the  same  reason,  the  embryos  of  a 
Dog  and  a  Cat  continue  longer  to  present  a  resemblance,  than 
those  of  a  Dog  and  a  Bird,  or  a  Dog  and  a  Marsupial  animal. 
But  at  the  first  beginning  and  during  the  first  period  of  em- 
bryonic life  the  embryos  even  of  the  most  different  animals 
or  groups  of  animals,  such  as  Mammalia,  Birds,  Lizards, 
Snakes,  Tortoises,  &c. ,  are  so  similar  in  appearance  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  definite  assertion  of  von  Baer,  they  can  generally 
be  distinguished,  from  their  external  aspect,  only  by  difference 
of  size.  There  are  also  some  characters  of  form  and  external 
outline,  which  sometimes,  but  not  always,  render  it  possible 
to  distinguish  them,  but  these  are  exceedingly  insignificant. 
Professor  Agassiz  found  this  to  his  cost ;  for  having  one  day 
neglected  to  furnish  an  embryo  in  his  collection  with  a  ticket, 
he  was  afterwards  unable  to  determine  whether  it  belonged  to 
a  Mammal,  a  Bird,  or  a  Reptile.* 

Thus  the  study  of  developmental  history  furnishes  us  with 
clear  and  incontrovertible  evidence  of  the  close  relationship  of 
all  living  creatures  with  respect  to  their  first  production  and 
formation,  and  in  connedlion  with  our  special  subject  we  have 
now  only  to  ascertain  whether  this  natural  evidence  possesses 
the  same  validity  in  the  case  of  our  own  species.  ' '  One  burns 
with  impatience,"  says  Huxley,  "to  inquire  what  results  are 
yielded  by  the  study  of  the  development  of  Man. — Is  he  some- 
thing apart?  Does  he  originate  in  a  totally  different  way  from 
Dog,  Bird,  Frog  and  Fish,  thus  justifying  those  who  assert 
him  to  have  no  place  in  nature  and  no  real  affinity  with  the 
lower  world  of  animal  life?  or  does  he  originate  in  a  similar 
germ,  pass  through  the  same  slow  and  gradually  progressive 

*  It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  no  differences  exist  between  the  vari- 
ous embryos.  On  the  contrary,  there  must  be  such  differences  of  a  very  definite 
and  marked  kind  as  regards  both  molecular  and  chemical  constitution  ;  but  they 
are  so  delicate  that  they  cannot  be  detected  either  from  external  appearances,  or 
by  any  ordinary  means  of  investigation  at  our  command.  It  is  to  these  differ- 
ences of  the  most  minute  constitution,  therefore,  that  we  must  ascribe  the  founda- 
tion of  those  differences  of  structure  which  afterwards  diverge  so  widely. 


WHAT    ARE   WE!*  127 

modifications, — depend  on  the  same  contrivances  for  protec- 
tion and  nutrition,  and  finally  enter  the  world  by  the  help  of 
the  same  mechanism?  The  reply  is  not  doubtful  for  a  moment, 
and  has  not  been  doubtful  any  time  these  thirty  years.  With- 
out question,  the  mode  of  origin  and  the  early  stages  of  the 
development  of  Man  are  identical  with  those  of  the  animals 
immediately  below  him  in  the  scale,  &c."  As  regards  the 
human  ovum,  it  is  in  all  essential  particulars  like  that  of  any 
other  Mammal,  differing,  at  the  utmost,  only  a  little  in  size. 
Its  diameter  is  one-tenth  or  one-twelfth  of  a  line,  and  it  is  con- 
sequently so  small  that  with  the  naked  eye  it  can  only  be  per- 
ceived as  a  little  point.  But  when  suitably  magnified  it  is  seen 
to  be  a  spherical  vesicle  containing  in  its  interior  a  slimy  proto- 
plasm or  yelk,  and  in  this  the  cell-nucleus  or  gerjninal  vesicle 
with  its  nucleolar  corpuscle  or  genninal  spot.  Externally  the 
entire  structure,  which  is  also  called  the  ovicell,  is  enclosed  by 
a  thick,  translucent  membrane,  the  cell-membrane,  or  vitelline 
membrane. 

It  seems  unnecessary  to  give  any  further  description  of  this 
simple  and  yet  complicated  structure,  with  which  every  man, 
whether  born  in  a  palace  or  in  a  hovel,  commences  his  ex- 
istence, as  it  would  require  to  be  made  in  precisely  the  same 
terms  that  have  already  been  used  in  describing  the  &%^  of 
the  Mammalia.  There  is  no  visible  difference  between  them 
except  that  of  size.  Nevertheless  such  differences  do  exist,  and 
indeed  must  exist  in  a  very  definite  and  characteristic  manner. 
But  they  do  not  lie  in  the  external  form,  although  even  here 
subtle  variations  not  recognizable  by  our  instruments  of  re- 
search, may  and  indeed  must  exist,  but  rather  in  the  inner 
chemical  and  molecular  constitution  and  in  the  tendency,  caused 
by  this,  to  a  peculiar  systematic  and  individual  further  develop- 
ment. ' '  These  delicate  individual  differences  of  all  eggs  which 
depend  upon  indirect  or  potential  adaptation,  are  indeed  not 
directly  perceptible  with  the  extraordinarily  coarse  means  of 


128  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

investigation  possessed  by  man,  but  they  are  recognizable  by 
indirect  inferences  as  the  first  causes  of  the  difference  of  all  in- 
dividuals. " —  Haeckel. 

What  is  the  subsequent  destiny  of  this  vesicle  or  ovicell  ?  It 
quits  the  organ,  the  ovary,  in  which  it  was  formed  and  matured, 
(in  the  human  subject  every  four  weeks,  in  animals  only  at  the 
so-called  rutting  season,)  and  passes  thence  by  mechanical 
causes  into  the  oviduct.  If  the  egg-cell  is  not  fecundated  here 
it  is  lost  and  disappears  without  leaving  any  traces.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  fertilized  by  the  male  semen,  it  becomes  develop- 
ed in  the  womb,  (jiterus,)  into  an  e?nbryo,  and,  as  a  rule,  does 
not  quit  that  organ  until  its  perfect  evolution  into  a  young 
creature  capable  of  life.*  And  all  this  takes  place  exactly  in  the 
same  way  as  in  any  other  Mammal.  Even  the  changes  of  form 
or  transformations  which  the  human  embryo  undergoes  from 
this  period  are  exactly  the  same  as  have  been  already  described 
in  the  case  of  animals.  First  of  all  the  process  of  segmentation 
of  the  yelk  or  cell-division  occurs,  commencing  by  the  division 
of  the  germinal  spot  and  then  of  the  germinal  vesicle  itself  into 
two  separate  cells.  These  then  divide  again,  and  this  process 
is  continued  until,  finally,  a  spherical  mass  of  cells,  called  glob- 

*  The  vital  movement  and  further  development  of  the  egg  commences  at  the 
moment  when  it  is  fertilized  by  the  male  seminal  cell,  and  then  up  to  the  close  of 
individual  life  it  follovi's  rigidly  the  direction  which  has  been  impressed  upon  it 
both  by  its  own  constitution  and  by  that  of  the  male  reproductive  material.  As 
to  the  purely  mechanical  and  material  nature  of  this  process  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  and  yet  the  two  reproductive  elements  which  meet  in  it  are  so  minute  and 
so  slightly  distinguishable  from  other  elements  of  the  same  nature,  that  there  is 
nothing  but  an  infinitesimal  and  inconceivable  delicacy  and  difference  of  these 
materials  in  their  intimate  chemical  and  molecular  constitution  that  can  be  re- 
garded as  the  cause  of  the  innumerable  (systematic  and  individual)  differences  of 
the  subsequent  development. — "We  must  stand,"  says  Haeckel,  "in  wonder 
and  admiration  before  the  infinite  and  to  us  inconceivable  delicacy  of  the  albu- 
minoid material.  We  cannot  but  be  astonished  at  the  undeniable  fact,  that  the 
simple  egg-cell  of  the  mother  and  a  single  seminal  filament  of  the  father  transfer 
the  individual  vital  movement  of  these  two  individuals  to  the  child  so  exactly, 
that  afterwards  the  most  subtle  bodily  and  mental  peculiarities  of  the  two  parents 
reappear  in  it."  Who  can  venture,  in  the  presence  of  such  facts,  to  speak  of 
"  brute  "  matter  or  to  deny  its  ability  to  produce  mental  phenomena  ? 


WHAT    ARE    WE?  1 29 

ules  of  segmentation,  is  produced.  This  aggregation  of  cells 
now  becomes  converted  into  a  spherical  vesicle,  the  blastoderm, 
on  one  side  of  which  a  disciform  thickening,  (the  cmbryoyial 
spot,)  is  produced  by  continual  increase  or  growth  of  cells 
from  the  globules  of  segmentation  which  are  more  strongly  ac- 
cumulated at  this  point.  Soon  afterwards  this  embryonal  spot 
acquires  an  elongated  or  biscuit-like  shape  and  forms  the  first 
definitive  foundation  of  the  true  body  of  the  embryo,  whilst  the 
blastoderm  itself  is  only  employed  for  nutritive  purposes.  The 
embryonal  spot  consists  of  three  superimposed  and  closely 
united  leaves,  the  \.\\ree  germ-lamellae,  produced  in  this  way, — 
the  cells  formed  by  the  process  of  segmentation  arrange  them- 
selves in  accordance  with  a  plan  common  to  all  Vertebrata,  in 
three  membranous  layers,  each  of  which  has  a  perfectly  definite 
share  in  the  subsequent  building  up  of  the  tissues.  From  the 
outermost  or  superior  leaf  are  produced  the  external  skin  with 
its  folds  and  appendages,  (such  as  the  sebaceous  glands,  sudor- 
ific glands,  hairs,  nails,  &c. ,)  and  also  the  active  central  nervous 
system,  the  brain  and  spinal  cord.  The  innermost  or  inferior 
germ-lamella  furnishes  the  material  for  the  formation  of  the 
mucous  membranes  which  line  the  entire  alimentary  apparatus 
from  the  mouth  to  the  anal  aperture  with  all  its  enlargements 
or  appendages,  such  as  the  lungs,  liver,  intestinal  glands,  &c. 
Lastly,  the  middle  lamella  gives  origin  to  all  the  other  organs, 
namely,  the  bones,  muscles,  nerves,  &c. 

As  the  first  visible  rudiment  of  the  young  organism,  an  elon- 
gated, shield-shaped  elevation  of  darker  color  makes  its  appear- 
ance in  the  middle  of  the  embryonal  spot ;  it  is  surrounded  by  a 
lighter  colored  pear-shaped  part  of  the  spot,  and  along  it  the 
three  germ  lamellae  are  intimately  united.  In  the  middle 
line  or  longitudinal  a.xis  of  this  shield-shaped  prominence  a 
straight  shallow  furrow  or  groove  now  makes  its  appearance  ; 
\}l\\^  \)i  ih^  primitive  groove ^  (also  called  the  primitive  band  or 
axial  plate,)  which,  as  Hiixley  says,  "marks  the  central  line  of 


130  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND   FUTURE. 

the  edifice  which  is  to  be  raised,  or,  in  other  words,  indicates 
the  position  of  the  middle  line  of  the  body"  of  the  future 
animal.  On  each  side  of  the  groove  the  superior  or  outer 
germ-lamella  then  rises  in  the  form  of  a  long  fold  or  ridge ; 
these  two  ridges  finally  unite  above  and  form  the  so-called 
medullary  tube,  an  elongated  cavity  for  the  brain  and  spinal 
cord,  which  are  to  be  produced  from  the  walls  of  this  tube. 
The  cavity  itself  becomes  the  central  canal  of  the  spinal  cord  and 
the  brain  cavity.  In  the  lowest  forms  of  Vertebrated  animals, 
{Amphioxus,^  it  remains  through  life  a  simple  tube  pointed  at 
each  end  ;  whilst,  in  all  other  Vertebrata,  the  anterior  extremity 
of  the  medullary  tube  becomes  enlarged  into  a  rounded  vesicle, 
the  first  rudiment  of  the  brain,  and  only  the  posterior  ex- 
tremity, forming  the  tail,  remains  pointed. 

Simultaneous  with  these  processes  is  the  formation  at  the 
bottom  of  the  primitive  groove,  or  in  the  middle  germ-lamella, 
of  a  solid  cellular  thread  or  cartilaginous  rod,  the  notochord, 
(or  chorda  dorsalis,^  on  each  side  of  which  the  middle  lamella 
becomes  developed  into  quadrangular  dark  spots,  arranged  in 
pairs,  the  primitive  vertebrce,  which,  with  the  notochord,  con- 
stitute the  first  rudiment  of  the  vertebral  column.  The  latter  is 
produced  by  the  growth,  from  the  dorsal  surface  of  the  noto- 
chord, of  certain  arched  processes,  which  springing  upwards 
finally  unite  to  form  a  tube  embracing  the  spinal  cord.  Many 
fishes  retain  this  dorsal  chord,  (which  in  all  Mammalia,  and  in 
Man,  is  entirely  absorbed,)  throughout  their  whole  existence, — 
indeed  all  the  grades  of  development  which  the  human  embryo 
gradually  passes  through,  are  permanently  represented  in  the 
great  series  of  the  Vertebrata  when  we  pass  from  the  lowest 
forms  upwards.  The  most  ancient  Vertebrata  which  we  find 
buried  in  a  petrified  state  in  the  depths  of  the  earth  and  which 
opened  the  great  procession  of  the  Vertebrate  type  in  the  or- 
ganic history  of  the  world  millions  of  years  ago,  also  possessed, 
instead  of  a  vertebral  column,  only  a  cartilaginous  rod  or  gela- 


WHAT   ARE   WE!*  I31 

tinous  cord  to  which  we  have  given  the  name  of  chorda,  and  it 
was  only  at  a  later  period  that  this  was  replaced  by  the  true 
vertebral  column  composed  of  biconcave  vertebrae. 

In  this  stage  the  embryos  of  all  Vertebrala,  including  man, 
are  still  perfectly  similar.  "In  the  earliest  rudiment  of  the 
embryo,"  says  Giebel,*  "when  it  consists  only  of  the  primitive 
groove  and  notochord,  it  is  impossible  for  us  by  the  most 
minute  observation  to  distinguish  the  human  individuality  from 
that  of  any  other  Vertebrate, —  of  a  Mammal  or  a  Bird, — a 
Lizard  or  a  Carp." 

But  even  at  a  still  later  period  the  greatest  similarity  of  de- 
velopment persists,  and  it  is  only  by  degrees  that  the  differences 
become  more  prominent  by  the  stronger  growth  of  particular 
parts.  Thus  the  four  extremities  of  the  Vertebrata,  which  at 
first  grow  out  of  the  downward  processes  of  the  walls  surround- 
ing the  primitive  groove  in  the  form  of  little  buds,  and  by  de- 
grees acquire  the  true  structure  of  the  limbs,  are  so  much  ahke 
during  the  first  weeks  or  days  of  their  production  that  the 
delicate  hand  of  Man,  the  coarse  paw  of  the  Dog,  the  elegant 
wing  of  the  Bird  and  the  stumpy  fore-leg  of  the  Tortoise  can 
hardly  be  distinguished  from  one  another.  Nor  is  there  any 
more  distindlion  between  the  leg  of  Man  and  of  the  Bird,  or 
the  hind  leg  of  the  Dog  and  Tortoise.  And  yet  there  are 
scarcely  any  parts  of  the  body  which,  when  fully  developed, 
are  more  variously  formed  than  the  limbs  of  the  Vertebrate 
animals.  In  a  somewhat  earlier  stage,  when  even  the  rudiments 
of  the  fingers  or  toes  are  not  yet  formed  and  the  limbs  only 
form  simple  rounded  processes  shooting  forth  from  the  sides  of 
the  trunk,  it  is  not  even  possible  to  distinguish  between  the  fore 
and  hind  limbs.  With  regard  to  the  fingers  and  toes  them- 
selves it  is  a  very  remarkable  circumstance  that  their  presence 
to  the  number  of  five  is  the  rule  throughout  nearly  all  the 
Mammalia.     This  applies  even  to  the  so-called  Solipedes,  {e.  g. 

*  Der  Mensch,  1861. 


132  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND   FUTURE. 

the  Horse,)  which,  in  the  embryo-state,  exhibit  five  toes  ;  these 
however  are  afterwards  fused  together  into  the  hoof -bone,  but 
in  individual  cases,  (deformities,)  the  whole  or  a  part  of  them 
are  retained. 

What  is  true  of  the  limbs,  is  true  in  exactly  the  same  manner 
of  all  other  parts  or  organs,  which  all  at  first  have  the  same 
form  and  gradually  develop  their  specific  and  permanent  differ- 
ences. The  difference  however  consists  very  often  merely  in 
the  fact  that  certain  parts  or  organs,  which  in  the  lower  series 
of  animals  attain  a  permanent  development  and  a  corresponding 
importance,  lose  this  importance  in  higher  groups,  become  ret- 
rograde, and  are  either  entirely  lost  or  retained  in  a  very  abor- 
ted state.  As  an  example  of  such  organs  we  way  take  the  tail 
in  man.  In  the  earliest  period  of  his  embryonic  existence  man 
possesses  this  part  in  just  the  same  state  of  development  as  the 
embryos  of  tailed  and  tailless  Mammals.  It  is  only  towards 
the  sixth  or  seventh  week  of  embryonic  life  that  the  tail  begins 
to  retrograde  and  finally  disappears,  leaving  only  a  small  rudi- 
ment, consisting  of  from  three  to  five  aborted  vertebrae,  which 
form  the  lower  extremity  of  the  vertebral  column  even  in  the 
adult  and  fully  developed  man,  but  remain  concealed  beneath 
the  skin.  They  are  immediately  connected  with  the  sacrum 
and  bear  the  name  of  the  os  coccygis. 

The  theme  of  tailed  men  has  already  often  been  treated  in  a 
burlesque  fashion,  and  the  absence  of  a  tail  in  man  has  always 
been  regarded  as  an  essential  prerogative  of  his  and  as  an  im- 
portant distinction  from  the  animal  world. 

In  all  this  it  was  indeed  forgotten  that  in  the  first  months  of 
his  embryonic  existence  man  is  not  destitute  of  this  animal 
appendage, — nay  that  he  even  bears  it  about  with  him,  (although 
in  a  very  rudimentary  form,)  throughout  the  whole  of  his  life. 
Nor  was  it  taken  into  consideration  that  the  large  apes,  which 
are  so  nearly  allied  to  man,  (Orang,  Chimpanzee,  Gorilla,)  are 


WHAT    ARE   WE.''  I33 

also  tailless,  of  course  in  precisely  the  same  sense  as  man. 
According  to  Haeckel  the  aborted  tail  of  man  is  "an  incon- 
trovertible proof  of  the  undeniable  fact  that  he  has  descended 
from  tailed  ancestors. ' '  He  says  indeed  that  in  the  tail  of  man 
rudimentary  muscles  are  still  present, —  the  remains  of  those 
muscles  which  in  earlier  days  served  to  move  the  tail  of  his 
ancient  progenitors. 

But  even  amongst  those  ancestors  of  man  which  are  much 
further  removed  from  him  in  the  great  series  of  organic  de- 
velopment, some  have  impressed  their  striking  and  unmistak- 
able seal  upon  the  human  embryo.  In  the  first  weeks,  (or 
days,)  of  their  embryonic  life  all  Vertebrata  possess  an  ex- 
tremely important  external  structure,  which  is  common  to  all, 
but  subsequently  becomes  converted  into  organs  of  the  most 
different  kinds.  These  are  three  or  four  fissures  on  each  side 
of  the  neck,  with  intervening  processes  or  arches,  which  in 
Fishes  become  the  brayichial  arches  and  are  destined  to  bear 
the  respiratory  organs  or  gills,  {branchiae.)  These  branchial 
or  visceral  arches,  also  called  bronchial  arches,  with  their  inter- 
vening branchial  or  visceral  fissures  are  originally  present  in 
Man  or  in  the  Dog  as  well  as  in  other  Vertebrata.  But  it  is 
only  in  the  Fishes  that  they  remain  as  they  were  in  the  embryo, 
and  become  converted  into  respiratory  organs, —  in  the  other 
Vertebrata,  on  the  contrary,  they  find  a  different  employment 
and  serve  as  the  rudiments  of  the  different  parts  of  the  face  and 
neck. 

Similar  legacies  from  the  animal  world  to  man,  or  so-called 
rudimentary  organs,  are  very  numerous.  We  may  indicate, 
for  example,  the  so-called  intermaxillary  bone,  which  was  so 
long  supposed  to  be  wanting  in  man  and  yet  was  at  last  dis- 
covered by  Goethe  ;  *  the  rudimentary  viuscles  for  the  move- 
ment of  the  ear,  which  by  long  practice  some  individuals  are 
actually  able  to  use  in  moving  that  organ  ;  tlie  male  milk-glands, 

*  See  Appendix  No.  25. 


134  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

which  in  many  men  have  even  been  seen  to  the  number  of  four, 
(the  two  lower  ones  in  a  very  rudimentary  state  ;)  the  human 
milk-dentitio7i  and  its  resemblance  to  that  of  the  lower  Mamma- 
lia in  form ;  the  traces  of  ribs  on  the  cervical,  (or  neck-)  ver- 
tebrae in  man,  &c. ,  &c. 

Rudimentary  or  aborted  organs,  which  may  be  detected  in 
great  abundance  throughout  both  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdoms,  are  among  the  strongest  supports  of  the  theory  of 
derivation,  as  indeed  of  the  monistic  or  unitarian  conception  of 
the  Universe  generally.  "  If  the  opponents  of  this  conception," 
says  Professor  Haeckel,  ' '  understood  the  enormous  importance 
of  these  facts,  they  must  be  reduced  to  despair.  None  of  these 
opponents  has  been  able  to  throw  even  a  faint  glimmer  of  light 
upon  these  extremely  remarkable  and  important  phenomena. 
There  is  scarcely  a  single  one  of  the  more  highly  developed 
forms  of  plants  or  animals  that  has  not  some  rudimentary  or- 
gans. .  .  .  It  is  the  reverse  of  the  formative  process,  in  which 
by  adaptation  to  peculiar  conditions  of  existence  and  by  the  use 
of  a  still  undeveloped  part  new  organs  are  produced,  &c." 

These  remarkable  fa6ts  of  inheritance  and  of  the  existence  of 
rudimentary  organs,  like  the  previously  described  embryologi- 
cal  and  comparative  anatomical  resemblances  in  general,  stand 
in  immediate  connection  with  another,  no  less  remarkable  dis- 
covery, which  shows  that  there  is  not  merely  a  complete  paral- 
lelism of  the  individual  and  systematic  development,  but  also  a 
parallelism  of  these  two  with  the  palceontological  development, 
—  that  is  to  say  the  laws,  in  accordance  with  which  the  first 
development  of  the  individual  creature  takes  place,  may  be  rec- 
ognized not  merely  in  the  present  world,  but  also  in  the  history 
of  the  past.  It  is  the  well  known  relation  oi  juxtaposition, 
cause  a7id  effefl  and  succession  that  is  unmistakably  presented 
to  us  in  this  triple  developmental  series,  and  demonstrates  to  us 
with  a  distinctness  which  cannot  be  misunderstood,  the  great 
affinity  of  all  organic  beings  to  and  their  derivation  from  each 


WHAT    ARE    WE?  1 35 

Other.  Thus,  in  the  great  series  of  the  Vertebra ta  we  find  per- 
manently represented  all  the  grades  of  development  which  the 
human  embryo  successively  passes  through  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  human  embryo  passes  through  a  graduated  series  of 
metamorphoses  which  closely  approximate  it  at  each  stage  of 
its  development  to  the  lower  grades  of  development  of  the 
Vertebrate  type, — that  is  to  say,  man  (after  representing  in  the 
egg-state  the  lowest  stage  of  life,  the  cell  or  Protozoon,)  resem- 
bles a  Fish  in  the  earliest  stage  of  its  embryological  develop- 
ment, then  an  Amphibian,  and  only  at  a  later  period  a  Mammal. 
Moreover  the  different  steps,  which  it  surmounts  in  this  last  or 
Mammalian  stage,  correspond  to  the  different  stages  of  develop- 
ment through  which  the  Mammalian  type  gradually  rises  from 
the  lowest  to  the  higher  orders  and  families.*  But  this  is  not 
all ;  all  these  stages  or  grades  of  development  again  precisely 
resemble  the  steps  by  which  the  Vertebrate  type  has  risen 
gradually  during  geological  times  and  in  the  course  of  many 
millions  of  years  to  its  present  state  of  perfection,  and  the 
remains  and  representatives  of  which  we  find  buried  in  the 
depths  of  the  earth.  This  great  truth  cannot  be  better  ex- 
pressed than  in  the  admirable  words  of  one  of  the  greatest  of 
living  Naturalists,  Professor  Agassiz,  who  says  :  "It  is  a  fadl 
which  I  can  now  assert  as  universal  that  the  embryos  and  young 
of  all  a6lually  existing  animals,  to  whatever  class  they  may 
belong,  are  the  living  miniatures  of  the  fossil  representatives  of 
the  same  families y  Exactly  the  same  idea  is  expressed  by 
Professor  Haeckel  in  the  following  words  : — ' '  The  series  of 
multifarious  forms  which  any  individual  of  any  series  of  animals 
passes  through  from  the  commencement  of  its  existence,  from 
the  Q.<g^  to  the  grave,  is  an  abridged  and  condensed  repetition 

*"The  different  animals,"  says  Professor  Schaffhausen,  "are  the  forms  of 
animal  life  fixed  at  different  stages,  and  the  higher  animal  advances  during  its 
development  through  the  lower  forms,  but  never  perfectly  reproducing  them, 
since  the  incessant  formative  impulse  is  constantly  tending  to  remove  the  similar- 
ity again  immediately." 


136  MAN   IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

of  that  series  of  different  specific  forms  through  which  the 
ancestors  and  primitive  progenitors  of  that  species  have  passed 
during  the  enormously  long  periods  of  geological  history." 

Consequently  the  development  of  the  individual  during  and 
even  after  its  embryonic  existence  is  nothing  more  than  a  short 
and  rapid  repetition  of  the  course  of  development  of  the  type  to 
which  it  belongs,  or  in  other  words  the  miniature,  enclosed  in 
a  narrow  frame,  of  the  sequence  of  those  ancestors  which  form 
the  entire  ancestral  chain  of  the  individual  in  question  and 
which  in  its  most  essential  features  is  still  represented  by  the 
systematic  sequence  of  the  living  types  of  animals.  There  can 
be  no  more  striking  proof  of  the  close  relationship  and  connec- 
tion of  man  with  the  totality  of  organized  nature,  and  especially 
with  the  animals  immediately  below  him.  This  fact  at  once 
throws  an  equally  bright  and  astonishing  light  upon  the  im- 
portant question  of  the  origin  and  derivation  of  the  human  race 
itself,  a  question  which  as  a  matter  of  course  is  most  intimately 
and  necessarily  connected  with  our  subject,  or  the  question  of 
the  position  of  man  in  nature.  Since  the  celebrated  Darwinian 
theory  has  brought  the  doctrine  of  the  derivative  nature  and 
conversion  of  organic  beings  into  more  general  acceptance,  and 
at  the  same  time  general  attention  has  been  attracted  directly  to 
the  relation  of  man  to  that  doctrine,  this  equally  important  and 
interesting  question  has  excited  the  minds  of  men  in  a  most 
remarkable  manner,  and  its  answer  in  a  Darwinian  sense  has 
given  rise  to  a  very  wide  spread  emotion.  We  may  remark  in 
passing  that  this  emotion,  which  has  often  been  accompanied 
or  followed  by  the  drollest  outbreaks  of  virtuous  indignation,  is 
a  striking  proof  how  little  the  great  results  of  natural  history 
have  become  generally  diffused,  notwithstanding  the  innumera- 
ble attempts  that  have  been  made  to  popularize  them,  and  that 
it  is  precisely  the  most  important  results  of  these  investiga- 
tions and  the  conclusions  founded  uj)on  them  that  are  still  the 
greatest  mysteries  to  the  majority  of  men. 


WHAT    ARE   WE?  137 

It  is  true  that  at  the  root  of  this  emotion  Ues  the  just  convic- 
tion, which  is  productive  of  uneasiness  to  many  minds,  that  all 
investigations  into  the  position  of  man  in  nature  and  his  relation 
to  the  rest  of  the  organic  world  must  finally  lead  up  to  the 
question  of  the  origin  and  derivation  of  the  human  race,  and 
certainly  these  researches,  which  are  in  part  of  a  very  difficult 
and  subde  kind,  and  m  themselves  possess  interest  chiefly  for 
those  who  make  a  special  study  of  them,  would  scarcely  have 
interested  the  public  so  much,  if  there  were  not  always  in  the 
background   the   necessary  and  unavoidable  tendency  to  this 
very  question.     As  I  stated  in  my  third  lecture  on  Darwin,  the 
whole  question  is  to  a  certain  extent  an  affair  of  the  heart  iox 
us,  and  no  doubt  it  requires  the  most  thoroughgoing  examina- 
tion and  investigation.     Professor  Huxley,  who  was  the  first 
to  come  boldly  before  the  general  public  with  opinions  as  to 
the  natural  origin  and  animal  derivation  of  man  founded  upon 
anatomical  considerations,  expresses  himself  in  the  same  terms. 
It  is  true  that  similar  views  had  often  been  expressed  before 
Huxley,   but  they  were  supported  less  upon   particular  facts 
than  upon  general  philosophy,  or  upon  reflections  derived  from 
a  general  view  of  natural  phenomena.      Since  Huxley  came 
forward,  however,  numerous  voices  have  been  raised  in  other 
countries  on  the  same  side, —  in  Germany,  especially  those  of 
Professor  Ernst  Haeckel  of  Jena  and  Hermann  Schaafl"hausen 
of  Bonn,   the  latter  as  I  shall  speedily  show,  having  really  a 
claim  to  priority  over  Huxley,    in  so  far  that   he   definitely 
asserted  the  animal  derivation  of  man  ten  years  previously.     It 
is  a  very  wide  spread  notion   that   Professor   Carl  Vogt,   the 
celebrated  naturalist  and  writer,   is  the  true  originator  of  the 
idea  of  the  natural  and  especially  of  the  Simian  origin  of  man. 
This  opinion,  probably  a  consequence  of  Vogt' s  lectures  deliver- 
ed in  all  the  great  towns  of  Germany,  is  in  fact  erroneous.     Vogt 
was  even  for  a  long  time  a  very  decided  and  energetic  champion 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  immutability  oj  species,  which  necessarily 


138  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

excludes  the  theory  in  question,  and  it  is  only  since  Darvvin  and 
by  Darwin's  means  that  he  has  become  of  a  different  opinion. 
But  even  since  this  conversion  he  has  never,  so  far  as  I  know, 
expressed  himself  publicly  upon  the  point  in  question  so  dis- 
tinctly and  decidedly  as  the  naturalists  just  mentioned. 

In  his  well  known  LeSlures  on  Ma7i,  (Giessen,  1863,)  the 
intimate  relationship  between  Man  and  animals  is  certainly 
recognized  and  supported  by  facts,  and  the  systematic  position 
of  man  is  discussed  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as  by  Huxley, 
—  and  finally  at  the  conclusion  of  the  work  and  in  the  last  lec- 
ture the  animal  and  especially  the  Simian  origin*  of  man  is 
represented  as  the  necessary  consequence  of  the  whole  theory. 
Vogt  has  also  subsequently  published  a  series  of  investigations 
upon  the  so-called  Microcephalia  (not  indeed  intended  for  the 
general  public,)  in  which  he  treats  this  human  deformity  as  a 
kind  of  intermediate  form  between  man  and  animals  produced 
by  atavism  or  retrogression^  and  gives  to  the  Microcephali  the 
characteristic  name  of  "  ape-men.  "f     But  how  far  Carl  Vogt 

*  When  the  term  "  Simian  origin  "  is  employed  it  is  always  to  be  understood  in 
the  Darwinian  sense,  as  signifying  derivation  from  an  antediluvian,  extinct  and 
still  unknown  progenitor,  holding  a  middle  place  between  the  Human  and  the 
Simian  types.  A  derivation  of  man  from  one  of  the  existing  anthropoid  apes 
has,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  never  been  seriously  maintained  by  any  one. 

t  Vogt  regards  microcephaly  as  an  arrested  formation  of  the  brain,  especially 
of  the  anterior  hemispheres ;  and  he  believes  that  it  corresponds  to  a  lower 
stage  in  the  developmental  history  of  man,  and  therefore  has  a  typical  signifi- 
cance ;  while  other  investigr  tors  see  in  it  only  a  morbid  malformation  brought 
about  by  various  causes,  and  deny  that  it  has  any  meaning  in  favor  of  the  deriva- 
tion of  man  from  a  lower  animal.  According  to  Vogt,  moreover,  there  is  a 
great  analogy  between  the  microcephalic  brain  and  that  of  the  ape  as  regards  the 
laws  of  their  growth,  in  that  both  are  distinguished  from  the  normal  human 
brain  by  their  increase  of  volume  after  birth  proceeding  only  very  gradually  and 
to  a  small  degree,  while  the  brain  of  a  healthy  human  child  during  the  first  year 
after  birth  makes  a  vast  advance,  increasing  proportionally  nearly  as  much  in 
that  time  as  it  does  during  the  rest  of  its  life.  Now  as  arrested  growths  are  in  a 
manner  the  mile-stones  ou  the  path  which  leads  back  to  the  point  of  origin  of 
man,  microcephali  are,  according  to  Vogt,  nearer  to  the  ape  and  so  to  the 
common  ancestor  of  the  latter  and  man,  than  is  an  ordinary  man.  A  description 
of  two  living  microcephali  is  given,  by  the  author  of  the  present  work  in  No. 
44  of  the  Gartenlaube  for  1869. 


WHAT   ARE   WEr  I39 

has  gone  upon  this  point  in  his  pubHc  lectures  on  the  primitive 
history  of  man,  or  how  far  he  has  gone  into  its  details,  we  are 
unable  to  judge  precisely,  as  these  lectures  are  as  yet  only 
known  from  newspaper  reports.  In  any  case  Vogt  cannot  be 
regarded  as  the  originator  of  the  entire  theory,  merely  because 
he  was  the  first  to  lecture  upon  it  in  public.  Huxley's  work  so 
often  cited,  which  marks  an  epoch  in  the  histor)'  of  the  subject, 
appeared  in  the  same  year  as  Vogt's  Lectures  on  Man  and 
treats  the  question  in  a  far  more  thoroughgoing  and  definite 
manner ;  it  has  therefore  in  any  case  the  priority  over  Yoga's. 
But  at  a  much  earlier  period  than  either  of  them,  and  indeed  at 
a  period  when,  considering  the  prevalent  prejudices  in  opposi- 
tion to  it,  greater  scientific  courage  was  necessary,  Professor 
Hermann  Schaaffhausen  ventured  to  lay  down  the  outlines  of 
the  theory  of  organic  development  and  to  establish  as  its  neces- 
sary consequence  the  doctrine  of  the  animal  derivation  of  man. 
This  he  did  in  three  memoirs  printed  in  the  years  1853,  1854 
and  1858  :  On  the  color  of  the  skin  in  the  Negro,  and  the 
appro  xi7natio7i  of  the  hu77ian  fgui'e  to  the  ayiimal  form,  (1854,) 
—  On  the  persistency  and  trayisformation  of  species,  (1853,)  and 
On  the  connection  of  the  phcnonieyia  of  nature  and  life,  (1858.) 
As  evidence  of  this  I  may  here  cite  a  passage  from  the  first 
mentioned  of  these  three  memoirs,  in  which  the  author  demon- 
strates by  striking  examples  that  not  only  the  color  of  the  skin, 
but  also  the  different  form  of  the  head,  upon  which  the  distinc- 
tion of  the  various  races  of  men  has  been  founded,  varies  in  the 
most  essential  manner  with  climate,  soil,  civilization,  mode  of 
life,  &c.,  and  that  from  this,  in  conjunction  with  the  circum- 
stance that  the  diminution  of  intelligence  in  races  causes  animal 
forms  to  become  more  and  more  prominent,  the  question  must 
arise  whether  the  human  foryn  has  not  beeji  p7'oduced  from  tJie 
a7iimal,  a7id  whether  the  increase  of  intelligence  has  7iot  b7'ought 
abotd  this  develop7nent?  He  then  continues  in  the  following 
terms:  —  "There  is  nothing  in  the  least  lowering  to  man  in  our 


140  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

regarding  his  creation  as  a  natural  development,  nor  is  the 
human  intelle(fl:  thereby  placed  upon  the  same  level  with  the 
intelligence  of  the  animal.  We  may  regard  the  highest  intel- 
lectual and  moral  interests  of  the  human  race  as  an  undoubted 
fact  and  nevertheless  admit  the  possibility  that  the  human  mind 
has  risen  from  a  state  of  animal  rudeness  to  the  highest  intellec- 
tual development.  It  will  of  course  be  objected  that  man  and 
animal  are  essentially  different.  But  if  we  had  never  witnessed 
the  development  of  the  chicken  from  the  egg,  should  we  not 
with  still  more  reason  regard  these  as  two  essentially  different 
things?  Why  should  not  the  outlines  of  the  moral  world  of 
man  exist  in  the  sentiments  of  an  animal  mind?  If  organic 
bodies  have  been  constantly  advancing  towards  greater  per- 
fection, why  should  not  a  gradual  unfolding  of  the  intellectual 
powers  also  be  possible?  It  is  a  more  elevated  and  worthy 
view  of  the  plan  of  creation  to  regard  all  nature  as  a  whole, 
coherent  by  its  development,  than  to  imagine  the  Creator  re- 
peatedly destroying  his  creation,  in  order  to  set  another  in  its 
place. ' ' 

Unfortunately  these  three  admirable  memoirs  remained  too 
little  known  for  them  to  have  exercised  any  great  influence  in 
favor  of  the  theory  of  evolution  which  was  destined  soon  after- 
wards to  make  such  great  progress.  And  yet  they  must  be 
regarded  as  having  already  established  that  theory  and  its  ap- 
plication to  Man  in  all  essential  points  !  *  But  if  we  leave  out 
of  consideration  all  more  profound  scientific  evidence  and 
merely  attend  to  the  question  of  the  origin  of  man,  Dr.  H.  P. 
D.  Reichenbach,  of  Altona,  has  a  greater  claim  to  priority 
than  any  of  the  naturalists  just  mentioned. — On  September, 
24,  1 85 1,  that  gentleman  delivered  before  the  Twenty-eighth 
Meeting  of  German  Surgeons  and  Naturalists  in  Gotha,  a  dis- 
course On  the  Origin  of  Ma7i,  printed  at  Altona,  in  1854,  in 
which  the  doctrine  of  the  animal-derivation  of  Man  was  most 
*  See  Appendix  No.  26. 


WHAT    ARE    WE?  I4I 

definitely  laid  down  and  defended.  "But where  was  the  soil," 
he  says  in  this  litde  work,  (pages  7  and  8,)  which  is  written  in  a 
rather  grandiloquent  style,  ' '  where  was  the  soil  on  which  the 
first  man  was  formed  and  rested,  and  where  the  maternal 
bosom  from  which  he  derived  his  nourishment?  To  these 
questions,  however  the  pride  of  man  may  struggle  against  it, 
we  can  only  answer  :  The  soil  on  which  the  first  mail  was  p7'o- 
duced  was  an  ariimal, — his  first  mother  an  animal, —  and  the 
first  nourishment  of  his  mouth  the  milk  of  an  animal. ' '  * 

From  all  this  it  is  sufficiently  clear  that  the  theory  of  the 
animal  origin  of  man  is  not,  as  so  many  people  in  their  ingnor- 
ance  suppose,  a  discovery  of  Vogt's,  but  that  it  is  a  theory 
founded  upon  the  progress  of  development  of  Science,  which  in 
some  way  or  another  would  sooner  or  later  have  been  brought 
to  light.  Essentially,  as  has  already  frequently  been  stated,  it 
is  completely  included  in  the  theory  of  derivation  and  change, 
and  is  a  necessary  and  inevitable  consequence  of  this.  Hence 
even  Lamarck,  the  celebrated  predecessor  of  Darwin,  did  not 
hesitate,  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  to  apply 
the  theory  of  transformation  established  by  him  to  man  and  to 

*  In  the  further  course  of  his  treatise,  which  starts  from  palaeontolog^ical  facts, 
Reichenbach  relies  chiefly  on  the  knowledge  which  has  been  gained  among 
savage  races,  and  on  the  points  of  animal  resemblance  of  the  Negro,  the  New 
Hollander,  the  Bushman,  the  Peschera,  the  savages  of  the  interior  of  Borneo  and 
Sumatra,  &c.,  as  well  as  on  their  lower  grade  of  mental  culture.  Also,  towards 
the  end  of  his  pamphlet  he  distinctly  expresses  the  idea  of  the  gradual  rise  of  the 
whole  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  from  a  cell-formation  intermediate  between 
plant  and  animal;  and  he  concludes  with  the  words  :  "  But  what  is  the  most  in- 
comprehensible of  all  is,  that  a  great  natural  philosopher  of  our  time  should  say 
that  man  is  only  a  modification  of  the  Deity,  when  we  know  from  nature  that  he 
is  only  a  modified  animality." 

That  these  views,  so  openly  expressed  at  that  time,  in  opposition  to  the  general 
prejudice,  did  little  more  than  draw  upon  their  originator  ill-will  and  scorn,  and, 
after  they  were  printed,  passed  away  without  leaving  a  trace,  is  easily  understood. 

The  writer  had  an  opportunity,  at  a  subsequent  assembly  of  naturalists,  of  be- 
coming acquainted  with  the  old  gentleman  who  had  such  an  acute  presentiment 
of  the  scientific  future ;  and  certainly  the  triumphant  development  of  his  views 
which  has  followed  must  have  been  a  joy  and  satisfaction  to  him,  even  though  he 
himself  remained  forgotten. 


142  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

assert  the  gradual  production  of  man  from  a  man-like  species  of 
Ape.  Lorenz  Oken,  the  head  of  the  Natural  Philosophical 
School  in  Germany,  which  embraced  similar  ideas,  also  ex- 
pressed himself  in  the  same  manner,  (1809  to  1819.) 

Darvvin  himself,  the  true  father  of  the  evolutionary  theory 
now  prevalent,  proceeded  more  cautiously  than  Lamarck,  and 
for  some  reason  not  yet  explained,  left  the  question  whether  and 
how  far  this  theory  is  to  be  applied  to  man,  untouched.*  This, 
however,  did  not  prevent  its  being  perceived  that  the  animal 
origin  of  man  is  equally  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  Dar- 
winian as  of  any  other  theory  of  evolution,  and  it  is  undoubtedly 
recognized  as  such  by  all  the  serious  adherents  of  Darwin.  But 
even  if  this  were  not  the  case  it  would  not  alter  matters  in  the 
least,  for  without  Darwin  and  the  Darwinian  theory  Anthropology 
would  of  itself  in  course  of  time  have  arrived  at  this  necessary 
result, — indeed  even  before  Darwin  it  had  already  been  attained, 
although  only  in  the  minds  of  certain  individual  students.  If 
we  accept  only  one  great  law  of  organic  development,  leaving 
out  of  consideration  Darwin  and  his  theory,  its  correctness  or 
incorrectness,  we  can  form  no  other  hypothesis  of  the  produc- 
tion of  man.  For  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  that  this  law  of 
development  has  suddenly  been  broken  at  a  particular  point, 
and  that  by  supernatural  intervention  a  new  member  of  such 
importance  as  man  has  been  inserted  in  the  natural  series  of 
beings  and  provided  with  all  those  animal  resemblances,  indica- 
tions of  relationship,  etc.,  which  should  belong  to  him  in 
accordance  with  that  law.f  Such  considerations  as  these  had 
led  the  author  of  this  book,  long  before  anything  was  known  of 
the  Darwinian  theory,  to  the  idea  of  the  natural  origin  of  man 

*  This  was  written  before  the  publication  of  Darwin's  celebrated  work,  The 
Descent  of  Man. — E. 

+  "  If  the  theory  of  derivation,"  says  Professor  Haeckel  (two  lectures  on  The 
Origin  and  Genealogy  of  the  Jliimati  Race,  1868,)  be  a  necessary  and  general  law 
of  induction,  its  application  to  man  is  only  an  equally  necessary  special  law  of 
deduction, — a  theory  which  follows  from  the  former  by  inevitable  necessity." 


WHAT   ARE   WE?  143 

and  especially  of  his  animal  descent,  an  idea  he  expressed  openly 
and  without  circumlocution  as  long  ago  as  the  year  1855  in  the 
first  edition  of  his  work  on  Force  and  Matter,  without  at  that 
time,  having  the  least  suspicion  how  soon  positive  observation 
and  the  advancing  knowledge  of  nature  would  lend  efficient  aid 
to  this  idea.     At  present  (but  already  fifteen  years  have  elapsed) 
the  theory  of  the  animal  origin  of  man  is  an  undeniable  require- 
ment not  merely  of  a  rational  theory  but  of  positive  investigation 
and  of  science  itself     It  is  supported  above  all  things  by  the 
common  plan  of  development  in  the  organization  of  the  entire 
living  world,  which  as  already  stated  is  most  clearly  and  indis- 
putably revealed  in  three  directions  (geologically,  systematico- 
anatomically  and  embryologically . )     Then  we  have  all  the  pos- 
itive arguments  which  arise  from  direct  comparison,  and  which 
were  first  laid  down  connectedly  and  with  distinct  reference  to 
this  object  by  Professor  Huxley  in  his  three  celebrated  essays 
on    The  Position  of  Man  in  Nature.     After  furnishing  in  the 
first  of  these  memoirs  a  detailed  description  of  the  four  most 
man-like  apes,  the  Gibbon,  Chimpanzee,  Orang  and  Gorilla  (an 
abstract  of  which  is  given  in  Appendix  No.  18,  of  the  present 
book,)  Professor  Huxley  passes,  in  his  second  memoir,  to  his 
well  known  anatomical  comparison  of  the  structure  of  the  body 
of  man  with  that  of  the  large  apes,  especially  the  Gorilla,  and 
arrives  at  the  important  conclusion,   which  has  already  been 
mentioned,  that  the  anatomical  differences  between  man  and 
the  most  highly  organized  apes  are  not  so  great  or  so  im- 
portant, as  the  differences  of  the  various  families  of  apes.     In 
his  mind  and  in  that  of  every  thinking  person,  this  result  leads 
to  the  further  question, — if  we  admit  the  mutual  derivation  of 
animals  :  is  this  principle  also  to  be  applied  to  man  and  to  the 
equally  interesting  and  important  question  of  his  first  origin? 
Huxley  of  course  answers  this  question  with  a  decided  affirma- 
tive and  adds  that  in  such  case  either  the  origin  of  man  must 
be  explained  by  the  gradual  transformation  of  a  man-like  ape, 


144  ^*-^N    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

or  man  must  be  regarded  as  a  special  branch  of  the  same  funda- 
mental animal  stock  as  the  apes.  This  necessarily  leads  Huxley 
further  to  the  Lamarckio-Danvinian  theory  of  the  transformation 
of  species,  of  which  he  confesses  himself  to  be  an  adherent,  at 
least  in  general.  Hence  also  he  naturally  becomes  a  decided 
supporter  of  the  animal  origin  of  man.  "But,"  adds  Huxiey, 
after  this  declaration  of  opinion,  "even  leaving  Mr.  Darwin's 
views  aside,  the  whole  analogy  of  natural  operations  furnishes 
so  complete  and  crushing  an  argument  against  the  intervention 
of  any  but  what  are  termed  secondary  causes,  in  the  production 
of  all  the  phenomena  of  the  Universe,  that,  in  view  of  the 
intimate  relations  between  Man  and  the  rest  of  the  living  world, 
and  between  the  forces  exerted  by  the  latter  and  all  other 
forces,  I  can  see  no  excuse  for  doubting  that  all  are  co-ordinated 
terms  of  Nature's  great  progression,  from,  the  formless  to  the 
formed — from  the  inorganic  to  the  organic — from  blind  force 
to  conscious  intelleH  a7id  will. ' ' 

It  would  be  impossible  to  express  more  distin6lly  and  de- 
cidedly the  fundamental  idea  of  the  materialistic  conception  of 
the  universe  and  nature,  and  the  developmental  theory  which 
stands  in  necessary  connection  therewith.* 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  essay  Huxley  also  speaks  in  admira- 
ble terms  which  we  cannot  take  too  much  to  heart,  upon  the 
absurd  fears  entertained  by  the  general  public  and  their  un- 
founded horror  of  any  such  theory.  For  this  I  must  refer  the 
reader  to  the  work  itself 

The  third  and  last  of  Huxley's  memoirs  relates  to  some 
recently  discovered  fossil  remains  of  Man,  which  appear  fitted 
to  a  certain  extent  to  fill  up  or  at  least  diminish  the  structural 
interval  which  separates  Man  from  the  animals,  and  thus  to 
add  palaeontological  arguments  to  those  hitherto  obtained  from 
systematic,  anatomical  and  embryological  investigations  as  to 
the  position  of  man  in  nature  and  his  animal  origin.     The  most 

*  See  Appendix  No.  27. 


WHAT   ARE   WE?  I45 

important  of  these  remains  is  the  celebrated  Neayiderthal  skull 
already  mentioned  and  described  in  the  first  se6lion  of  this 
work,  (page  76,)  which  Huxley  describes  as  the  most  ape-like 
of  all  the  human  skulls  that  he  has  ever  seen,  and  of  which  he 
says  that  in  its  examination  we  meet  with  ape-like  characters  in 
all  parts,  and  also  that  it  has  the  greatest  similarity  with  the 
existing  Australian  skulls  and  with  the  ancient  Borreby  skulls. 
Huxley  also  states  expressly  that  this  skull  is  by  no  means  an 
isolated  phenomenon,  but  that  it  is  only  the  extreme  term  of  a 
long  series  of  bestial  or  at  least  very  lowly  developed  human 
skulls  of  the  past  and  present  periods.  A  detailed  account  of 
the  discoveries  relating  to  this  subje<5t  has  already  been  given 
in  the  first  sedlion  of  this  book. 

Since  Huxley  wrote  as  above  cited,  a  great  number  of  similar 
discoveries  confirming  the  idea  of  the  relationship  of  man  to 
the  animal  world  have  been  made,  and  amongst  these  the  most 
remarkable  is  the  discovery  of  the  celebrated  human  jaw  of  La 
Naulette. 

But  before  I  pass  to  the  detailed  description  of  this  discovery 
I  will  remark  that  the  mandible  or  lower  jaw  is  of  all  the  bones 
of  the  body  that  which  in  the  first  place  is  most  readily  pre- 
served, and,  in  the  second,  is  most  frequently  met  with  in  a 
fossil  state  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  skeleton.  The  latter 
circumstance  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  consequence  of  its  loose 
attachment  to  the  upper  jaw,  (which  is  effected  only  by  a  small 
and  not  very  firm  joint  and  in  other  respects  by  muscles  which 
are  subject  to  decomposition,)  it  is  separated  from  the  rest  of  the 
skeleton  more  readily  and  quickly  than  other  bones  ;  the 
former  to  the  fact,  that  by  reason  of  its  peculiarly  solid 
consistency,  which  resists  destructive  agencies,  it  is  able  to 
persist  longer  than  other  bones  in  the  soil.  To  this  we  may 
add  that  when  once  this  bone  is  separated,  from  its  compara- 
tively small  size  and  corresponding  lightness,  it  is  more  readily 
carried  to  a  distance  by  external  agencies  than  other  parts  of 


146  MAN   IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

the  skeleton,  and  may  easily  be  deposited  in  any  place.  If  this 
applies  to  the  lower  jaws  of  animals,  which  on  account  of  their 
solidity  and  other  characters  were  preferred  by  the  primeval 
men  for  the  manufacture  of  weapons,  tools,  etc. ,  it  applies  also 
and  in  a  still  higher  degree  to  the  very  solid  and  characteristic- 
ally formed  lower  jaw  of  man  ;  and  the  lower  jaw  has  in  fact 
been  found  more  frequently  than  any  other  parts  of  the  body 
in  the  researches  that  have  been  made  for  the  fossil  remains  of 
our  earliest  ancestors. 

Thus,  in  the  year  1866,  a  fragment  of  a  human  jaw  with  very 
remarkable  and  animal  characters  was  found  by  the  indefatiga- 
ble Belgian  Cave-explorer  Dr.  Edward  Dupont  in  the  Trou  de 
la  Nauleite,  a  bone-cave  situated  on  the  bank  of  the  little  river 
Lesse,  not  far  from  the  village  of  Chaleux.  It  was  in  a  deposit 
of  river-loam  covered  with  a  layer  of  stalagmite  and  at  a  depth 
of  about  four  metres.  The  most  remarkable  of  its  char- 
a6lers,  besides  the  comparative  thickness  and  rounded  form  of 
the  bone  and  its  elliptical  dental  curve,  is  the  ahnost  entire 
absence  of  the  chiyi.  The  projecting  or  prominent  chin  is  so 
distinctive  a  character  of  man,  that  Linne,  the  great  law -giver 
of  systematic  zoology,  could  name  no  better  bodily  distinctions 
between  man  and  animals  than  the  upright  position  and  the 
prominent  chin  of  the  former.  In  animals,  instead  of  project- 
ing, the  chin  retreats,  and  the  jaw  of  La  Naulette  holds  an 
intermediate  position  between  the  two ;  where  the  projection 
of  the  chin  ought  to  be,  it  exhibits  a  line  descending  perpen- 
dicularly. 

Moreover,  the  cavities  destined  for  the  reception  of  the  canine 
teeth  are  remarkably  wide  and  large,  as  in  animals,  although 
the  canines  themselves  are  closely  contiguous  to  the  incisors 
and  molars,  and  the  jaw  is  thus  shown  to  be  undoubtedly  of 
human  origin.  But  what  is  still  more  remarkable  than  this  is 
the  circumstance  that  the  three  hinder  or  persistent  molars 
present  exactly  the  same  relative  sizes  as  is  usual  in  the  anthro- 


WHAT    ARE    WE?  147 

pomorphous  apes.  Thus,  whilst  in  the  higher  races  of  Man  the 
three  true  molars  are  so  arranged  that  the  first  is  the  largest 
and  the  last  or  hindermost  the  smallest,  we  find  in  the  dentition 
of  the  lower  races,  such  as  the  Malays  and  Negroes,  that  all 
the  three  molars  are  of  equal  size,  and  throughout  larger  than 
usual.  But  in  the  Anthropoid  apes  the  first  true  molar  is  the 
smallest  and  the  last  the  largest,  and  this  is  the  case  also  in  this 
fossil  human  jaw,  the  last  or  hindermost  molar  of  which  even 
appears  to  have  possessed  five  roots.  (The  large  size  of  the 
hindermost  molar  certainly  indicates  a  low  grade  of  organiza- 
tion.) To  all  this  may  be  added  that  the  inner  surface  of  the 
jaw  at  the  point  of  the  so-called  suture  or  symphysis,  behind 
the  incisor  teeth,  forms  a  line  obliquely  directed  upwards  and 
consequendy  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  the  prognathism,  (a  very 
charaderistic  mark  of  the  animals  and  lower  races  of  man,)  of 
its  former  possessor. 

All  these  characters  in  conjunction  with  the  general  aspect  of 
the  bone  indicate  that  it  is  a  human  lower  jaw  of  very  animal 
formation,  and  especially  that  it  is  the  most  ape-like  jaw  hitherto 
discovered.  It  was  found  associated  with  the  bones  of  extinct 
animals,  principally  the  Mammoth  and  woolly  Rhinoceros,  so 
that  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  fad  that  this  man  must 
have  been  a  contemporary  of  those  animals,  and  must  therefore 
have  lived  in  the  so  called  Mavimoth  period.  The  implements 
or  flints  found  with  it  also  correspond  to  that  period  and 
present  the  same  type  as  those  ot  St.  Acheul,  (Valley  of  the 
Somme.)* 

The  lower  jaw  of  La  Naulette  is,  however,  no  more  a  pe- 
culiar and  isolated  bone  of  its  kind,  than  the  Neanderthal  skull 
in  its  way,  but  it  is  supported  in  its  evidence  by  a  complete 
series  of  similar  or  allied  bones.  Such  is  the  celebrated  human 
jaw  of  Moulin-Quignon,  already  described,  (page  43,)  which 
displays  a  tendency  towards  animal  structure  in  the  shortness 

*  See  Appendix  No.  28. 


148  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

and  breadth  of  the  ascending  ramus,  the  equal  height  of  the 
two  apophyses,  the  indication  of  prognathism  furnished  by  the 
very  obtuse  angle  at  which  the  ramus  joins  the  body  of  the 
bone,  etc. ;  and  also  the  human  jaw  belonging  almost  exa(5lly  to 
the  same  type,  (according  to  Pruner  Bey,)  which  was  found 
near  Hyeres,  But  above  all  we  must  mention  the  jaw  found  in 
the  cave  of  Arcis-sur-Aube,  (Burgundy,)  associated  with  bones 
of  extinct  animals,  which  possesses  all  the  essential  chara6lers 
of  the  jaw  of  La  Naulette,  although  in  a  somewhat  less  degree  ; 
and  that  discovered  in  a  fissure  of  the  tertiary  limestone  near 
Grevenbriick  and  described  by  Schaaffhausen,  {Sitzungsber. 
der  niederrhein.  Gesellsch.,  1864,  page  30,)  which  indicates  a 
low  stru6i:ure  by  its  elliptical  dental  curve  and  inlying  dentary 
bone  ;  whilst  the  human  lower  jaw  found  in  the  cave  of  Frontal 
associated  with  reindeer  bones  is  remarkable  for  the  size  of  the 
molars  and  the  extraordinary  thickness  of  the  bone  in  the  molar 
region.  Finally,  we  have  to  notice  the  fossil  human  jaw  already 
referred  to,  (page  46,)  from  the  gravel-pits  of  Ipswich,  which 
was  exhibited  in  April,  1863,  to  the  Ethnological  Society  of 
London,  and  exhibits,  with  all  the  signs  of  very  high  antiquity, 
the  characteristics  of  a  low  conformation. 

We  may  look  forward  with  confidence  to  further  discoveries 
of  the  same  kind,  although  the  conditions  are  peculiarly  un- 
favorable for  the  preservation  of  human  bones  from  the  reindeer 
period  and  from  a  period  preceding  that  of  the  cave-inhabitants, 
and  although  their  preservation  can  as  a  rule  be  anticipated 
only  in  particular  cases  and  by  a  combination  of  peculiarly 
favorable  circumstances.  It  must  be  remembered,  however, 
that  the  traces  of  those  innumerable  generations  of  animals, 
which  peopled  the  surface  of  the  earth  from  its  earliest  existence, 
and  whose  bones  in  general  possessed  a  much  greater  power  of 
resisting  destructive  agencies  than  those  of  man,  have  nearly 
all  disappeared  with  the  exception  of  a  comparatively  few  relics, 
which  a  happy  chance  has  buried  in  the  interior  of  protected 


WHAT    ARE    WE  ? 


149 


caves,  in  the  depths  of  peat-mosses  or  in  the  sand  and  gravel  of 
former  rivers  ! 

But  this  very  difficulty  of  preservation,  and  the  small  number 
of  very  ancient  human  remains  render  it  all  the  more  signifi- 
cant that  these  remains  almost  without  exception  bear  upon 
them  the  evident  signs  of  an  inferior  conformation,  and  that 
among  them  there  are  some  which  exceed  in  their  animality  of 
character  the  lowest  and  most  animal  of  existing  races  of  men  ! 
To  this  we  must  add  that  these  discoveries  have  hitherto  been 
made  almost  exclusively  in  regions  now  inhabited  by  civilized 
nations,  and  in  which  we  certainly  cannot  place  the  so-called 
cradle  of  mankmd.  Under  any  circumstances  the  discoveries 
hitherto  made  by  no  means  point  upwards,  as  ought  to  be  the 
case  in  accordance  with  the  old  opinions,  but  downwards,  and 
indicate  the  existence  of  a  ruder,  more  animal  and  more  lowly 
developed  human  race,  which  formed  to  a  certain  extent  an 
intermediate  form  between  the  existing  men  and  the  highest 
known  forms  of  animals,  and  of  which  the  remains  still  remain 
buried  in  the  depths  of  the  earth.  Moreover  we  must  not  forget 
that  the  common  character  of  all  these  lower  structures  consists 
in  a  tendency  towards  that  foetal  conformation  or  towards  that 
early  stage  in  the  development  of  man,  which  has  already  been 
described  in  its  chief  outlines,  and  that  in  this  again  the  general 
harmony  of  organic  nature,  a  condition  of  the  law  of  develop- 
ment which  we  have  seen  to  be  its  fundamental  law,  is  most 
distindly  manifested.  Why,  we  cannot  help  asking,  why  has 
not  a  single  discovery  or  a  single  fact  been  made  known,  which 
contradi6ls  this  fundamental  law  or  proves  the  former  existence 
of  a  more  perfect,  more  highly  organized  or  more  highly  de- 
veloped race  of  men  ? 

Significant  as  all  these  discoveries  are  in  themselves  it  is, 
however,  unnecessary  for  the  theory  of  evolution  that  we  should 
find  diredly  intermediate  stages  between  the  forms  of  men  and 
animals  living  in  the  present  day,  as  it  is  now  almost  universally 


150  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

admitted  by  all  adherents  of  Darwin  or  of  the  doctrine  of  deri- 
vation, that  man  is  not  directly  derived  from  the  Anthropoid 
or  Man-like  apes  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  but  from  an 
unknown  and  long  since  extinct  intermediate  or  ancestral  form, 
or  perhaps  from  several  such  forms,  in  exactly  the  same  way 
that,  in  accordance  with  the  Darwinian  theory,  we  assume  the 
former  existence  of  similar  extinct  stocks  for  nearly  all  living 
forms  of  animals.  We  should  thus  have  to  assume  one  or 
more  ancestors  of  this  kind  for  man  and  animals,  and  to  sup- 
pose that  the  existing  forms  of  man  and  of  the  higher  apes  are 
only  the  last  offshoots  of  developmental  series  ramifying  at  an 
early  period  from  common  fundamental  stocks. 

This  opinion  is  also  essentially  supported  by  the  fa(5l  already 
cited  that  the  truly  human  characters  or  resemblances  are  not 
combined  in  any  single  genus  of  Anthropoid  apes  with  which 
we  are  acquainted,  but  distributed  among  them  in  various 
ways.  Indeed,  particular  human  characters,  such  as  the  forma- 
tion of  the  skull  and  face,  are  more  highly  developed  in  the 
group  of  the  Platyrrhini,  notwithstanding  its  distance  from 
man,  than  in  the  Catarrhini,  or  even  in  the  true  Anthropoid 
apes  themselves.  This  remarkable  fact  leaves  scarcely  any 
doubt  that  a  separation  of  originally  combined  characters  and  a 
ramification  in  various  directions  during  further  evolution,  such 
as  the  theory  of  derivation  compels  us  to  accept  for  most  of  the 
higher  existing  forms  of  animals,  must  have  cooperated  also 
in  the  produ6lion  of  man  and  in  his  branching  off  from  the 
common  fundamental  stock  of  the  Primates  ;  and  according  to 
this  theory  the  living  forms  of  Anthropoid  apes  are  to  be  re- 
garded not  indeed  as  the  ancestors  or  progenitors  of  man,  but 
as  his  near  relations  or  cousins. 

This  view  finds  further  efficient  support  in  the  well  known 
circumstance  that  quite  recently  some  fossil  remains  of  apes 
have  been  discovered,  which  seem  to  indicate  the  actual  former 
existence  of  such  primitive  stock-forms.     Of  these  a  short  ac- 


WHAT   ARE   WE?  151 

count  has  already  been  given  in  the  author' s  Leflures  upon  the 
Darwinian  Theory,  (pages  204  and  205.)  These  discoveries 
have  hitherto  been  made  only  in  Europe,  (France  and  Switzer- 
land,) but  similar  ones  may  fairly  be  expected  in  those  tropical 
or  equatorial  regions  which  are  now  the  true  home  of  the 
Anthropoid  apes,  and  especially  in  their  tertiary  formations, 
most  probably  those  of  southern  Asia.*  There,  or  in  Africa,  or 
in  the  Islands  of  the  Malay  archipelago,  we  shall  probably  some 
day  meet  with  that  Man-Ape  or  Ape-Man,  with  that  immediate 
intermediate  form  between  man  and  animal,  which  certainly  has 
not  yet  been  found,  but  whose  former  existence  is  indicated  by  so 
many  convincing  proofs,  f  That  this  intermediate  or  transi- 
tional form  is  no  longer  in  existence  need  not  surprise  us,  as  it 
is  well  known  that  all  the  non-persistent  intermediate  forms 
become  extin6l  with  greater  facility  and  rapidity  than  other 
types,  and  the  chief  cause  of  the  comparatively  large  gaps 
which  we  now  detect  throughout  the  plan  of  creation  is  to  be 
found  in  this  rapid  extinction  of  the  intermediate  forms. 

Hence,  although  the  gap  or  interval  between  man  and  ani- 
mal, which  nowadays  certainly  exists  and  is  of  great  width, 
seems  to  be  one  which  can  scarcely  be  filled  up,  we  do  not 
hesitate  to  regard  such  a  condition  of  things  as  founded  upon 
the  natural  plan  of  development,  and  consider  that  this  ap- 
parently immense  gap  has  not  always  exhibited  the  same  void 
that  it  does  at  present.  Already  the  great  apes  are  in  course 
of  extinction,  and  they  become  rarer  from  year  to  year  by  the 

*The  existence  of  fossil  apes  was  formerly  reg;arded  as  impossible,  but  we  are 
now  acquainted  with  no  fewer  than  fourteen  species,  of  which  Europe  has  fur- 
nished six  or  more  ;  whilst  the  great  continent  of  Africa,  the  special  habitation  of 
ape-like  men  and  man-like  apes,  has  not  yet  offered  a  single  example  of  this  kind. 
Africa,  however,  has  been  but  little  investigated. 

t  Even  if  this  palaeontological  intermediate  form  should  never  be  discovered, 
we  must,  in  estimating  the  importance  of  this  fact,  bear  in  mmd  the  extreme  im- 
perfection and  incompleteness  of  the  geological  record  of  creation,  interrupted  as 
it  is  by  sunken  or  submerged  lands.  "Geology  is  a  magnificant  inscription,  but 
forever  disfigured  ;  we  can  certainly  decipher  some  fragments  of  lines  relating  to 
those  long  past  times,  but  we  shall  never  read  the  whole." — G.  Pouchet. 


152  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

advance  and  competition  of  man.  In  a  short  time  they  will 
have  entirely  disappeared.  The  lower  races  of  man,  which 
exhibit  so  much  animality  of  stru6lure,  likewise  die  out  year  by 
year,  and  the  savants  of  future  ages  would  therefore  have  to 
regard  the  interval  between  man  and  the  animals  as  still  deeper 
and  more  impassable  than  it  appears  to  us,  if  they  did  not 
possess  in  writings,  pictures  and  collections  such  evidences  of 
the  past  as  may  enable  them  to  arrive  at  a  sound  judgment. 

Now  that  these  results  have  been  established  in  a  general 
way,  and  the  animal  origin  of  man  has  been  shown  to  be  most 
probable,  especially  upon  natural  History  grounds,  we  have  to 
ascertain  how  such  a  process  of  the  production  of  man  from 
animal  or  animal-like  beginnings  may  also  be  possible  or  con- 
ceivable in  its  details,  in  other  words,  the  when  ?  where  ?  and 
how  ?  of  his  first  production.  We  have  also  in  an  especial 
manner  to  decide  whether  a  unity  or  ^plurality  of  origin  is  to 
be  regarded  as  probable  or  certain 

This  last  important  question  coincides  with  or  forms  part  of 
the  question  as  to  the  uriity  or  plurality  of  mankhid  in  general, 
which  has  been  so  often  treated  and  already  answered  in  the 
most  various  fashions, — a  question  which  has  constantly  given 
rise  to  innumerable  and  continuous  disputes  among  naturalists, 
and  has  divided  them  into  two  great  parties  —  the  so-called 
monogcnists  and  polygenists.  Essentially  these  disputes  only 
reproduce  the  old  obscurity,  removed  by  Darwin,  as  to  the 
signification  and  origin  of  the  idea  of  the  species ;  hence  the 
whole  question  has  lost  most  of  its  former  importance,  since 
Darwin's  appearance.  For  if  we  once  accept  the  possibility  of 
the  conversion  of  the  ape-type  into  the  human-type,  (whether 
gradually  or  by  sudden  changes,)  it  is  of  little  consequence  to 
the  argument,  whether  this  conversion  has  taken  place  one  or 
several  times  and  in  one  or  several  places,  or  whether  the  exist- 
ing differences  among  the  individual  races  of  men  are  due  to 


WHAT    ARE    WE? 


153 


gradual  transformations  of"  an  originally  uniform  type  or  to 
original  differences  of  derivation.  As  a  matter  of  science, 
therefore,  it  is  quite  indifferent  whether  the  old,  equivocal  idea 
of  species  is  or  is  not  applied  to  man  with  all  his  variations  and 
aberrations  ;  the  whole  dispute  retains  a  fundamental  signifi- 
cance only  for  the  theologians  and  theological  naturalists,  who 
still,  quite  erroneously,  invoke  the  mythical  narratives  of  the 
Bible  in  proof  of  the  specific  unity  of  the  human  race. 

But  even  if  we  place  ourselves  at  the  former  standpoint  of 
science  and  apply  the  antiquated  idea  of  species  to  Man,  the 
facts  are  but  litde  in  favor  of  the  Biblical,  (or  philosophical,) 
unity  of  the  human  species.     For  the  African  Negroes,   the 
Chinese  and  the  Aryans  are  certainly  in  the  sense  of  biological 
science  as   well   characterized  species  at  the  best-founded   of 
those  which  zoology  has  ever  distinguished  among  animals, 
although  all  these  forms  have  hitherto  been  regarded  only  as 
races  or  varieties  of  a  single  human  species.*     And  among 
these  which  we  may  call  good  species,  we  have  then  no  small 
number  oibad  or  doubtful  species  to  intercalate.     In  this  respedl 
philology  furnishes  the  same  result  as  biology  and  shows  it  to  be 
scarcely  conceivable  or  possible  that  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth 
can  have  originated  from  a  single  pair,  at  all  events  at  a  not 
very  distant  period.     A  distinguished  historian  and  philologist 
in  comparing  the  languages  of  the  extreme  east  with  those  of 
the  Aryan  group  says  that,  "  if  the  planets  whose  physical  con- 
stitution resembles  that  of  the  earth  are  inhabited  by  organized 
beings  like  ourselves,  we  may  assert  that  the  history  and  lan- 
guages of  those  planets  will  not  differ  more  from  ours  than  do 
the  history  and  language  of  the  Chinese."     According  to  the 
celebrated  linguist  A.   Schleicher,   also,   it  is   "positively  im- 
possible to  refer  back  all  languages  to  a  single  primitive  tongue. 
An  unprejudiced  investigation  rather  indicates  as  many  primi- 
tive languages  as  there  are   distinguishable   stock-langfuages. 

*See  Appendix  No.  2(» 


154  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

We  must,  consequently,  suppose  a  large  but  indeterminate 
number  of  primitive  languages."*  (See  Schleicher  on  the 
significance  of  language  in  the  natural  history  of  vtaii,  1 865. ) 

To  return  now  to  the  matter  immediately  before  us.  Look- 
ing at  it  from  the  standpoint  of  the  derivative  theory,  many 
observers  have  been  struck  by  the  fact  that  there  is  a  remark- 
able agreement  in  the  color  of  the  skin  and  also  in  i\\e  fonnation 
of  the  skull  between  the  extreme  human  races  and  those  an- 
thropoid apes  which  even  now  inhabit  the  same  regions  of  the 
earth  with  them.  For  the  Orang  or  Orang-Outan  which  in- 
habits the  Asiatic  Archipelago,  is  oi  a. yellowish  red  color  and 
brachycephalous  or  short-headed  like  the  Malays  ;  whilst  the 
Chimpanzee  and  the  Gorilla,  both  of  which  are  indigenous  to 
Africa,  are  black  and  dolichocephalous  or  long-headed  like  the 
Negroes. 

This  peculiar  relation  would  seem  to  indicate  a  common 
origin  for  both,  so  that  it  is  possible  the  yellow  or  short-headed 
man  might  have  originated  from  a  stock-form  resembling  the 
Orang,  and  the  black  or  long-headed  man  from  one  resembling 
the  Gorilla  or  the  Chimpanzee.  This  supposition  has  been 
chiefly   put   forward   by    Professor   Schaafifhausen,    who    calls 

*  According  to  Schleicher,  certain  language-provinces  may  be  distinguished  on 
the  earth's  surface,  just  as  botanical  and  zoological  provinces  have  been.  This 
holds  good,  for  example,  of  all  the  languages  of  the  aborigines  of  America,  which, 
notwithstanding  all  their  variety,  exhibit  such  an  agreement  that  a  special  original 
source,  common  to  them  all,  may  be  imagined.  Most  confusedly  intermingled 
are  the  civilized  languages  of  Asia  and  Europe. 

Consequently,  we  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that,  in  essentially  homogeneous 
and  neighboring  districts,  similar  types  of  language  were  developed  indepen- 
dently, just  as,  it  may  according  to  all  probability  be  supposed,  was  the  case  with 
man  himself. 

The  origin  and  development  of  language  as  such,  of  course,  falls  far  anterior  to 
all  history^  and  accordingly  in  the  second  of  the  three  periods  distinguished  by 
Schleicher  for  the  development  of  man  generally  :  i,  of  physical  development  ;  2, 
of  the  development  of  language  ;  3,  of  historical  life.  Indeed,  many  organisms 
on  the  way  to  becoming  man  may  not  have  been  developed  up  to  the  stage  of 
speech-formation,  but  have  fallen  into  a  stationary  condition  and  then  become 
retrograde.  "  The  remains  of  these  beings  that  have  continued  speechless,  be- 
come arrested  and  never  become  human,  and  are  presented  to  us  in  the  anthropoid 
ap>es  of  the  present  time." 


WHAT    ARE    WE?  1 55 

attention  to  the  fact  that  southern  Asia  and  equatorial  Africa 
are  precisely  those  parts  of  the  earth's  surface  which  have  given 
origin  to  the  two  extremes  of  human  structure,  between  which 
all  the  other  forms  may  be  arranged.  These  two  crude  and 
original  types  of  the  long-headed  and  short-headed  man,  the 
Ethiopian  and  the  Mongol,  the  African  and  the  Asiatic,  which 
as  we  have  said,  even  at  the  present  day  form  the  two  extremi- 
ties or  opposite  poles  of  the  long  series  of  Men,  may  be  recog- 
nized in  all  their  distinctness  in  the  oldest  trace  or  remains  of 
our  race  upon  the  earth,  and  thus  indicate  a  probable  difference 
of  origin.  It  is  true  that  in  Europe  we  find  both  forms  mixed 
together  even  at  the  most  ancient  part  of  the  human  period 
known  to  us,  but,  according  to  Schaaffhausen,  this  may  possibly 
be  due  to  an  alternate  immigration  of  both  races  from  Asia  and 
Africa  in  primeval  times.  The  circumstance  that  the  most 
ancient  civilization  had  two  starting  points,  (India  and  Egypt,) 
of  which  one  is  in  Asia  and  the  other  in  Africa,  is  also  in  ac- 
cordance with  this  view. 

However,  Schaaffhausen  admits,  (as  indeed  he  cannot  help 
doing,)  that,  in  accordance  with  the  Darwinian  theory,  which 
presupposes  the  unhmited  variability  of  all  organic  beings,  it 
must  be  possible  that  the  human  race  originated  from  a  single 
pair,  but  he  regards  such  an  assumption  as  improbable.  ' '  The 
Gorilla  and  the  Orang,"  says  Schaaffhausen,  "are  also  both 
Anthropoid  or  man-like  apes  of  very  similar  structure,  but  what 
is  there  to'prove  their  common  origin  ?  "In  the  same  way  there 
may  have  been  for  man  several  developmental  series,  starting 
from  primitive  forms  separated  from  each  other  in  space." 

The  most  decided  of  the  polygenists  is  Carl  Vogt,  who,  even 
before  his  acceptance  of  the  Darwinian  theory,  was  one  of  the 
most  zealous  supporters  of  the  plurality  of  the  human  species 
and  also  of  their  multiplicity  of  origin.  According  to  him  the 
facts  do  not  indicate  a  common  stock  or  a  single  intermediate 
form  between  man  and  ape,  but  lead  us  to  assume   "several 


156      MAN  IN  THE  PAST,  PRESENT,  AND  FUTURE. 

parallel  series,  more  or  less  limited  locally,  which  may  have 
been  developed  from  the  different  parallel  series  of  the  apes. ' ' 
Even  the  American  man  may,  according  to  Vogt,  have  origi- 
nated separately  from  American  apes. 

The  theory  of  the  animal  or  more  specially  the  simian  origin 
of  man  has  received  its  widest  and  most  consistent  development 
at  the  hands  of  Professor  Haeckel,  who  has  followed  it  out 
strictly  in  accordance  with  the  Darwinian  theory,  and  from  a 
point  of  view  standing  intermediate  to  those  of  the  polygenists 
and  monogenists.* 

According  to  him  this  doctrine  is  of  such  importance,  ' '  that 
hereafter  men  will  celebrate  this  vast  advance  in  knowledge  as 
the  commencement  of  a  new  period  in  human  development." 
From  zoological  comparisons  Haeckel  concludes  that  all  the 
apes  of  the  old  World  must  be  descended  from  ;i  single  stock- 
form  which  possessed  the  same  nasal  structure  and  dentition  as 
all  the  living  Catarrhini  or  narrow-nosed  apes  ;  and  from  this  he 
draws  the  further  conclusion,  that  man  has  also  been  developed 
from  it,  or  that  the  human  species  is  a  branch  of  the  Catarrhine 
group  and  must  have  been  developed  in  the  old  World  at  a 
period  of  hoary  antiquity  from  Apes  belonging  to  this  group 
which  have  long  since  disappeared.  Haeckel  regards  the  no- 
tion that  the  American  man  had  a  special  origin  from  apes 
living  on  that  continent,  as  perfectly  erroneous  ;  in  his  opinion 
the  primitive  inhabitants  of  America  migrated  there  from  Asia, 
and  perhaps  in  part  also  from  Polynesia. 

"As  regards  the  genealogy  of  Man,"  says  Haeckel,  "it  is 
quite  certain  that  he  must  seek  his  immediate  animal  ancestors 
among  the  Catarrhini.  Of  course  no  single  one  of  all  the 
living  apes  is  to  be  reckoned  among  these  ancestors,  which 
have  long  since  become  extinct,  and  at  the  present  day  man  is 
separated  from  the  Gorilla  by  a  gulf  almost  as   deep  as  that 

*See  his  two  addresses  On  the  Origin  ii>id  Genealogy  0/ 1 he  ] I u>nan  iPat^,  Berlin, 
i85.S,  and  hi^  Natural  History  of  Creation,  Be-rlin,  1868. 


WHAT    ARE    WE  ?  I57 

between  the  Gorilla  and  the  Orang.  But  this  does  not  furnish 
the  least  evidence  against  the  well-founded  supposition  that 
the  most  ancient  Catarrhine,  (or  narrow-nosed,)  form  developed 
from  the  Prosimiae  was  the  common  primitive  stock  of  all  the 
the  rest  of  the  Catarrhini,  including  man.  It  was  only  a  single 
branch  of  the  multifarious  group  of  the  Catarrhini,  a  branch 
long  since  extinct  and  still  unknown  to  us,  that  under  favorable 
circumstances  became  transformed,  by  means  of  natural  selec- 
tion, into  the  primary  progenitor  of  the  human  race.  At  any 
rate  this  process  of  metamorphosis  was  of  very  long  duration, 
and  the  fossil  apes  have  hitherto  revealed  to  us  neither  its  time 
nor  its  locality.  In  all  probability,  however,  it  occurred  in 
Southern  Asia,  which  is  indicated  by  so  many  signs  as  the 
common  primeval  home  of  the  different  species  of  man.  Per- 
haps it  was  not  Southern  Asia  itself,  but  a  continent  situated  to 
the  south  of  it  which  afterwards  sank  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
Indian  ocean,  that  was  the  cradle  of  humanity.  The  epoch  at 
which  the  transformation  of  the  most  man-like  apes  into  the 
most  ape-like  men  took  place  was  probably  the  last  section  of 
the  true  Tertiary  period,  the  so-called  Pliocene  epoch,  or  per- 
haps even  the  preceding  Miocene  epoch. 

Hence  we  must  expect  the  discovery  of  the  fossilized  remains 
or  bones  of  the  ape-like  ancestors  of  the  human  race,  (if  any 
such  still  exi.st,)  in  the  Tertiary  formations  of  Southern  Asia, 
whilst  it  is  regarded  by  Haeckel  as  a  matter  of  absolute  cer- 
tainty, that  no  existing  species  of  ape  can  be  the  progenitor 
of  man. 

The  first  step  in  the  production  of  man,  the  immediate 
transitional  form  from  the  most  man-like  apes  to  man  and  the 
common  stock-form  of  all  the  species  of  man,  was,  according 
to  Haeckel,  the  supposititious,  (and  long  since  extin6l,)  crea- 
ture which  he  names  the  primitive  or  ape-man,  {Homo primi- 
genius,  Pithecanthropiis ,  Alahis. )     This  was  produced  from  the 


158  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

Anthropoid  apes  by  complete  habituation  to  an  erect  gait,  and 
the  stronger  differentiation  thus  caused  between  the  extremities 
by  the  development  of  the  fore-limb  into  the  true  hand,  and  of 
the  hind-limb  into  the  true  foot.  He  was  still  destitute  of  the  es- 
sential characteristic  of  the  true  man,  namely,  articulate  speech, 
and  the  conscious  thought  which  is  associated  with  it.  There  are 
many  reasons,  according  to  Haeckel,  which  justify  us  in  sup- 
posing that  this  primitive  man  must  have  been  a  woolly- 
haired,  prognathous,  long-headed  being,  of  a  dark  brown  or 
blackish  color  The  hairy  covering  of  his  body  may  have 
been  stronger  and  thicker  than  in  any  other  species  of  Man  ; 
his  arms  were  probably  longer  and  stronger  in  proportion,  and 
his  legs  shorter  and  thinner,  with  undeveloped  calves.  His 
gait  would  be  half  erect,  with  inbent  knees.  His  home  may 
have  been  southern  Asia  or  eastern  Africa,  or  perhaps  a  con- 
tinent now  submerged. 

From  this  primitive  man,  by  natural  selection  in  the  struggle 
for  existence,  there  was  developed  as  a  last  and  topmost  branch, 
the  true  or  speaking  Man,  {Homo,)  distinguished  from  his 
predecessor,  by  many  advantages,  but  chiefly  by  the  greater 
differentiation  or  better  development  of  the  limbs,  the  larynx 
and  the  cerebrum,  and  by  the  possession  of  articulate  speech. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  corporeal  changes  were  com- 
pleted long  before  the  production  of  an  articulate  language, 
"and  that  the  human  species  with  its  erect  gait,  and  the 
peculiar  form  of  body  superinduced  thereby,  existed  before  the 
true  development  of  human  speech,  therewith  the  second  and 
more  important  part  of  the  production  of  man,  was  completed." 

This  last  process,  the  production  of  articulate  language,  in 
combination  with  the  higher  development  or  perfection  of  the 
larynx,  which  again  must  have  been  accompanied  by  a  corres- 
ponding improvement  in  the  brain,  probably  did  not  take  place 
until  a  period  when  the  speechless  primitive  man  had  already 


WHAT    ARE    WE?  159 

become  divided  or  sub-divided  into  a  number  of  species  or  sub- 
species. For,  according  to  Haeckel,  the  various  languages 
show  so  great  a  difference  among  themselves  that  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  believe  that  they  could  have  had  a  common  origin,  and 
we  must  therefore  assume  the  existence  of  as  many  primitive 
languages  as  there  are  families  of  languages.  Hence  the  sub- 
division of  the  primitive  man  into  the  various  species  of  man 
must  have  occurred  before  the  time  of  the  origin  of  language. 
"Nevertheless,  even  these  must  converge  at  their  origin  at  a 
higher  or  lower  point,  and  therefore  all  must  finally  be  derivable 
from  a  common  primitive  stock." 

In  all  probability,  according  to  Haeckel,  this  process  of  the 
formation  of  species  of  man  from  the  primitive  stock  took  place 
in  the  following  manner.  In  the  first  place,  there  were  devel- 
oped from  the  speechless  primitive  man  a  number  of  different 
species  long  since  extinct  and  quite  unknown  to  us,  of  which 
the  two  most  divergent  prevailed  over  the  rest  in  the  struggle 
for  existence,  and  in  their  turn  became  the  stock-forms  of  all 
other  human  species.  These  constituted  a  woolly-haired  and  a 
smooth-haired  species.  The  woolly-haired  species  spread  es- 
pecially to  the  south  of  the  equator,  whilst  the  smooth -haired 
branch  turned  towards  the  north,  and  in  the  first  place  peopled 
Asia.  A  portion  of  it  may  have  been  driven  towards  Australia. 
Perhaps  the  existing  Papuans  and  Hottentots  are  remains  of 
the  first,  and  the  Alfurus  and  a  part  of  the  Malays  of  the  second 
stock.  However,  the  descendants  of  the  woolly-haired  stock, 
(the  Papuans  or  Negritos,  the  Hottentots,  the  Negroes,  Tas- 
manians,  etc.,)  have  remained  at  a  much  lower  stage  than  most 
of  the  descendants  of  the  smooth-haired  stock,  to  which,  ac- 
cording to  Haeckel,  we  must  refer  the  Australians,  the  Malays, 
the  Mongols,  the  Americans,  etc.,  but  above  all  the  white  or 
Caucasian  race  of  man.  "This  species,"  he  says,  "has  be- 
come more  highly  and  beautifully  developed  than  any  other, 
chiefly  by  adaptation  to  the  favorable  conditions  of  existence 


l6o  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

presented  by  Europe,  with  its  temperate  climate  and  exceed- 
ingly advantageous  geographical  conformation. ' '  In  Haeckel's 
opinion  this  species  was  produced  in  southern  Asia  from  a 
branch  of  the  Malayan  and  Polynesian  species,  or  perhaps  from 
a  ramification  of  the  Mongolian.  From  southern  Asia  the 
white  man  has  spread  westwards  and  become  diffused  over 
western  Asia,  northern  Africa  and  the  whole  of  Europe.  His 
skull  is  most  frequently  of  an  oval  form  and  holds  a  middle 
place  between  the  long-  and  short-headed  types, — the  two 
extremes  and  rudest  forms  of  cranial  structure.  This  species, 
however,  is  considered  to  have  divided  at  a  very  early  period 
into  two  divergent  branches,  —  namely,  the  Semitic  stock, 
which  spread  in  the  south,  and  from  which  originated  the 
Jews,  Arabs,  Phoenicians,  Abyssinians,  etc. ;  and  the  Indo- 
Germanic  stock,  which  migrated  more  towards  the  west  and 
north  and  gave  origin  to  the  most  highly  developed  civilized 
races,  the  Hindoos,  Persians,  Greeks,  Romans,  Germans, 
Sclaves,  etc.*  The  white  or  Caucasian  species  of  man  is 
destined  to  hold  the  sovereignty  of  the  earth,  whilst  the  in- 
ferior races,  such  as  the  Americans,  Australians,  Alfurus, 
Hottentots,  etc.,  are  advancing  with  gigantic  strides  to  their 
destru6lion.  On  the  contrary  it  is  to  be  expelled  that  the 
three  other  species  of  man,  namely,  the  Ethiopian  in  Central 
Africa,  the  so-called  Arctic  or  Polar  man  in  the  polar  regions 
and  the  Mongolian  man  in  Asia,  will  still  for  a  long  time  be 
successful  in  the  struggle  for  existence  with  the  Caucasian 
species,  because  they  are  better  adapted  than  the  latter  to  the 
peculiar  conditions  and  especially  to  the  climate  of  their  native 
countries ! 

*The  Semitic  form  of  language  is  so  essentially  different  from  the  Aryan  or 
Indo-Germanic,  that  we  cannot  believe  in  their  having  had  a  common  origin,  al- 
though, anthropologically^  the  two  stocks  approach  each  other  so  nearly.  From  this 
we  must  conclude,  either  that  the  descendants  of  the  same  ancestors,  when  geo- 
graphically separated,  develoi)ed  among  themselves  totally  different  languages,  or 
that  they  were  separated  before  they  possessed  any  language  at  all  ! 


WHAT    ARE   WE?  l6l 

Haeckel's  theory,  of  which  we  have  here  given  the  principal 
outlines,  consequently  to  a  certain  extent  combines  the  views 
of  the  polygenists  and  monogenists.  Thus  it  assumes  the  ex- 
istence of  a  number  of  species  or  races  of  men  very  early  sepa- 
rated from  one  another  and  sharply  defined,  (especially  from  a 
linguistic  point  of  view,)  but  at  the  same  time  regards  all  these 
only  as  branches  or  offshoots  of  a  single  primitive  stock-form 
which  became  extin6l  at  a  very  ancient  period.  A  perfectly 
analogous  position  is  taken  by  Georges  Pouchet,  although  in 
other  respe<5ls  he  is  one  of  the  most  decided  adherents  and  de- 
fenders of  polygenism.  In  his  thoughtful  book  on  the  Plicralily 
of  Human  Races,  (Paris,  1864,  second  edition,)  he  says  : — "  In 
the  night  of  time  there  existed  a  certain  species,  less  perfe6l 
than  the  most  imperfect  man,  and  itself  ascending  by  a  certain 
number  of  intermediate  species  the  nature  of  which  it  is  im- 
possible for  us  at  present  to  suspect,  to  that  primordial  Verte- 
brate which  we  assume.  This  species,  a  mere  rough  sketch  of 
what  man  now  is,  gave  birth,  after  the  lapse  of  a  considerable 
time,  to  several  other  species,  the  parallel  and  unequal  evolu- 
tion of  which,  in  accordance  with  what  we  have  said  of  animals, 
has  nowadays  for  its  contemporary,  (but  not  its  final,)  expres- 
sion the  different  human  species  commonly  designated  as  races. 
Thus  the  whole  of  humanity  would  be  related,  if  we  may  be 
permitted  to  use  this  expression,  not  in  the  seria/  direnion,  as 
the  monogenists  suppose,  but  in  a  collateral  direction^  and  in  a 
degree  which  we  are  unable  to  determine  ;  the  prognathous 
races  having  probably  deviated  less  from  the  antecedent  type, 
whilst  the  others  are  further  removed  from  this  type  and  more 
perfect. ' ' 

The  diversity  of  opinion  here  indicated  as  existing  in  ob- 
servers who  are  perfectly  in  unison  upon  the  main  question 
itself,  and  especially  the  opinion  of  a  decided  polygenist  just 
cited,  show,  at  any  rate,  that,  as  has  already  been  stated,  the 
question  of  the  unity  or  plurality  of  the  human  race  and  its 


l62  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

origin  has  lost  the  greater  part  of  its  former  importance,  having 
found  its  solution  in  the  higher  unity  of  the  general  theory  of 
descendence.  Whether  the  humanizing  of  the  animal  has 
taken  place  once  or  several  times,  at  a  single  definite  place  or 
at  several  places,  simultaneously  or  at  different  times,  in  the 
Pliocene,  Miocene  or  Eocene  period  or  even  earlier,  are  sub- 
sidiary questions  which  have  only  a  subordinate  significance 
with  regard  to  the  main  point.  Perhaps  science  will  never  be 
able  to  give  us  any  satisfactory  information  upon  them,  but 
even  then  she  will  be  in  no  worse  position  with  regard  to  these 
questions,  than  the  adherents  of  the  Biblical  history  of  Creation 
when  they  are  asked  whether  Adam  and  Eve  were  or  were  not 
provided  with  a  navel.*  With  regard  to  the  precise  manner 
of  production  of  a  more  man-like  creature  from  an  ape-like 
Mammal  we  can  as  yet  of  course  only  raise  general  supposi- 
tions and  hypotheses,  to  which,  however,  we  may  hope  that 
future  investigations  and  discoveries  will  some  day  furnish  a 
more  solid  base,  As  Rolle  says,  {^Der  Me?isch,  etc.,  Frankfurt 
a.  M.,  iS66  :)  "It  is  a  justifiable  hypothesis,  that  certain  con- 
ditions of  existence  may  in  some  way  have  mitigated  the  com- 
mencement of  that  retrograde  metamorphosis  of  body  and 
mind  leading  back  towards  the  bestial  form,  which  attacks  the 
existing  large  apes  at  the  period  of  the  second  dentition,  and 
thus  have  given  to  the  antediluvian  anthropoids  a  character,  the 

*This  oft-repeated  question  is  generally  treattd  as  only  a  jest  and  like  the  simi- 
lar one  :  Which  existed  first,  the  egg  or  the  hen  ?  And  yet,  as  soon  as  Adam 
and  Eve  are  rejrarded  as  another  designation  for  the  first  human  beings  generally, 
there  is  in  it  the  deepest  wisdom  and  the  whole  mystery  of  the  origin  of  man. 
Every  placental  animal  (including  man)  that  is  born  living  from  a  mother's  womb 
bears  externally  the  distinct  sign  of  its  former  physical  connexion  with  the  mater- 
nal organism  in  the  form  of  a  navel ;  and  the  absence  of  this  would  signify  a  sub- 
stantial creaiion  not  djpendent  on  parents.  Scientifically  such  a  thing  is  impos- 
sible or  inconceivable.  Hence  the  first  human  beings  also  must  have  borne  this 
sign  of  their  natural  origin  ;  and  from  this  simple  consideration  the  logical  neces- 
sity of  the  whol^  descendence-theory  follows.  It  also  follows  from  the  relation  of 
hen  and  ej^'g  ;  fi)r  no  hen  can  be  produced  without  an  egg,  and  no  eg^  without  a 
hen.  Hence  each  of  them  can  only  be  the  last  result  of  a  long  preceding  transmu- 
tation of  forms  a;id  ultimately  of  a  spontaneous  origination  of  the  first  and  sim- 
plest element  of  organic  form  I 


WHAT   ARE   WE  ?  163 

human  expression  of  which  still  strikes  us  in  the  little  round- 
headed  monkeys  of  South  America."  This  conje6lure  is  evi- 
dently founded  upon  the  well-known  observation  that  the 
young  of  most  animals,  but  especially  of  the  large  apes,  display 
a  comparatively  better  and  less  animal  development  both  of 
their  corporeal  and  intellectual  qualities,  and  particularly  a 
better  conformation  of  the  skull,  than  the  adults,  and  that  this 
advantage,  the  effe6ls  of  which  have  even  been  observed  in 
negro  children,  is  only  lost  at  the  commencement  of  perfe<5l 
maturity,  when  the  rude  nature  of  the  animal,  (or  of  the  savage 
man,)  acquires  its  full  force.  This  observation  is  remarkably  in 
accordance  with  the  fa6l  recently  disclosed  by  Welcker,  Vogt 
and  others,  that  the  young  ape  comes  into  the  world  with  a 
brain  of  much  greater  size  in  comparison  with  that  which  it  is 
subsequently  to  attain  than  that  of  man,  whilst  the  human  child, 
by  a  great  advance  during  the  first  period  of  life,  quickly  ap- 
proaches the  goal  which  it  is  ultimately  destined  to  attain. 
Hence  the  infant  ape  brings  with  him  into  the  world  the  foun- 
dation of  a  higher  development,  which,  however,  becomes 
abortive  in  the  further  course  of  his  simian  existence,  but  which 
in  one  or  more  of  the  Anthropoid  apes  of  antediluvian  times 
may  nevertheless  have  been  capable  of  becoming  developed 
into  human  chara61;ers.  This  development  may  have  taken 
place  equally  well,  (in  accordance  with  the  Darwinian  theory,) 
either  very  gradually  by  the  influence  of  natural  sele6tion  and 
the  processes  associated  with  it,  or  more  suddc?ily  by  the  birth 
in  one  place  or  another  of  an  individual  variety  or  aberrant 
form  characterized  by  the  peculiarly  favorable  development  of 
some  important  parts  or  chara61:ers,  (such  as  the  size  and  capa- 
bility of  evolution  of  the  brain,)  which  by  the  help  of  this 
quality  triumphed  over  its  competitors  in  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence. Similar  phenomena,  which,  according  to  Owen,  can 
properly  only  be  reckoned  amongst  those  of  the  formation  of 
monsters,  (abnormal  productions  with  a  monstrous  or  excessive 


164  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

development  of  particular  parts,)  have  been  often  enough  ob- 
served in  both  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms.  That  such 
a  process  as  this,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  man,  is  no  longer  ob- 
servable, need  not  surprise  us,  because,  as  has  already  frequently 
been  remarked,  the  existing  species  of  apes  can  only  be  regarded 
as  being  more  or  less  nearly  related  to  man,  but  by  no  means 
connedled  with  him  by  a  dire6l  genealogical  tie.  In  fa6l:  the 
living  Anthropoid  apes  can  only  be  considered  the  terminal 
members  of  a  distin6l  vital  branch  which  is  already  in  course  of 
extinction  and  therefore  has  for  the  most  part  lost  its  former 
vitality  and  reproductive  power.  The  close  and  powerful  com- 
petition of  man,  which  has  been  a6ling  incessantly  during  so 
many  thousand  years,  must  of  itself  cause  the  retrogression  and 
final  disappearance  of  this  lateral  branch  of  the  great  stock  of 
the  Discoplacentalia.  Thus  man  himself,  with  every  step  he 
takes  forward  on  the  great  ladder  of  progress  and  civilization, 
breaks  down  behind  him  a  portion  of  the  bridge  which  formerly 
united  him  with  the  animal  world.  Widely  separated  from  all 
other  creatures  he  feels  himself  to  be  the  ruler  of  the  world,  and 
in  his  pride  forgets  that  his  first  cradle,  like  that  of  the  founder 
of  Christianity,  stood  in  a  stable  or  in  a  still  humbler  place. 
Nevertheless,  or  perhaps  for  this  very  reason,  there  can  scarcely 
be  a  better  means  of  recognizing  our  own  nature  or  the  true 
position  of  man  in  Nature,  than  the  careful  study  of  those  of 
our  animal  cousins  and  relations  which  had  the  misfortune,  (or 
the  happiness,)  to  strike  into  a  path  of  progress  which  leads 
their  race  to  its  destruction  after  a  comparatively  short  period  of 
existence.  And  in  this  study  nothing  surprises  us  more  than 
the  wonderful  traits  of  far-reaching  intelligence  and  extraordi- 
nary habituation  to  human  circumstances  and  wants  that  we 
meet  with  in  these  animals,  and  especially  in  their  young. 
With  it  disappears,  at  least  partially,  that  feeling  of  disgust  and 
repugnance  with  which,  (unjustifiable  as  it  is  from  a  scientific 
point  of  view,)  we  have  hitherto  been  in  the  habit  of  regarding 


WHAT    ARE    WE?  165 

these  creatures, — casting  them  from  us,  as  it  were,  as  carica- 
tures or  distorted  pidures  of  ourselves.  This  feehng,  which 
originated  in  a  period  of  ignorance,  and  was  nourished  by  false 
philosophical  theories  having  no  foundation  in  a  true  knowl- 
edge of  nature,  resembles  that  sentiment  which  impels  savage 
tribes  to  regard  their  near  relatives  with  greater  repugnance 
and  hatred  than  their  zvhiie  enemies  and  oppressors,  or  so 
frequently  produces  a  fiercer  enmity  between  the  nearest  blood- 
relations  than  between  perfe6l  strangers.  We  look  at  a  Lion 
with  admiration,  nay,  with  a  certain  sentiment  of  respedt,  and 
regard  him  as  the  king  of  beasts,  although  in  this  respe6l  he 
stands  far  below  the  Ape,  who,  even  if  he  were  not  our  nearest 
animal  relation,  would  still  have  a  much  greater  claim  than 
any  other  animal  to  our  sympathy  and  interest  on  account  of 
his  intelligence,  his  docility,  his  address,  his  pathetic  attach- 
ments, his  approach  to  humanity  in  form  and  behavior,  etc. 
The  reports  and  narrations  of  trustworthy  travellers  and  ob- 
servers, which  prove  this,  are  innumerable,  and  quite  lately 
the  celebrated  traveller  and  naturalist  A.  R.  Wallace  has  pub- 
lished an  extremely  interesting  and  instru6live  account  of  a 
young  Orang,  which  he  had  the  opportunity  of  observing  very 
closely.* 

Indeed  it  is  sufificiently  well-known,  that  the  intelledual  life 
of  animals  has  hitherto  been  greatly  underestimated  or  falsely 
interpreted,  simply  because  our  closet-philosophers  always 
started,  not  from  an  impartial  and  unprejudiced  observation 
and  appreciation  of  nature,  but  from  philosophical  theories  in 
which  the  true  position  both  of  man  and  animals  was  entirely 
misunderstood.  But  as  soon  as  we  began  to  strike  into  a  new 
path  it  was  seen  that  intelle<5lually,  morally  and  artistically  the 
animal  must  be  placed  in  a  far  higher  position  than  was  formerly 
supposed,  and  that  the  germs  and  first  rudiments  even  of  the 
highest  intelledlual  faculties  of  man  are  existent  and  easily  de- 

*  See  Appendix  No.  30. 


I66  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

monstrable  in  much  lower  regions.*  The  pre-eminence  of  man 
over  the  animal  is  therefore  rather  relative  than  absolute,  that  is 
to  say  it  consists  chiefly  in  the  greater  perfe6lion  and  more 
advantageous  development  of  those  chara6ters  which  he  pos- 
sesses in  common  with  animals,  all  the  faculties  of  man  being 
as  it  were  prophetically  foreshadowed  in  the  animal  world,  but 
in  him  more  highly  developed  by  means  of  natural  seledlion. 
On  closer  consideration  all  the  supposed  specific  distin6live 
chara6lers  between  man  and  animals  fall  away,  and  even  those 
attributes  of  humanity  which  are  regarded  as  most  chara6ter- 
istic,  such  as  the  intelle6lual  and  moral  qualities,  the  upright 
gait  and  free  use  of  the  hands,  the  human  physiognomy  and 
articulate  language,  social  existence  and  religious  feeling,  etc. , 
lose  their  value  or  become  merely  relative  as  soon  as  we  have 
recourse  to  a  thoroughgoing  comparison  founded  upon  fa6is. 
In  this,  however,  we  must  not,  as  is  usual,  confine  our  attention 
to  the  most  highly  cultivated  Europeans,  but  must  also  take 
into  the  account  those  types  of  man  which  approach  most 
nearly  to  the  animals,  and  which  have  had  no  opportunity  of 

*  If  space  would  permit  it  would  be  easy  for  the  author  to  support  this  assertion 
by  innumerable  proofs.  But  as  this  cannot  be  done  he  begs  to  refer  the  reader  to 
the  numerous  recently  publislied  essays  and  observations  upon  this  subject,  as  also 
to  the  dissertations  upon  it  given  by  himself  in  previous  works.  The  second  volume 
of  his  Physiological  Pictures,  which  is  not  yet  published,  will  also  contain  an  essay 
upon  the  mind  of  animals.  In  this  essay  it  will  be  shovvn  by  numerous  well  au- 
thenticated examples  and  facts,  that  the  intellectual  activities  faculties,  feelings 
and  tendencies  of  man  are  foreshadowed  in  an  almost  incredible  degree  in  the  an- 
imal mind.  Love,  fidelity,  gratitude,  sense  of  duty,  religious  feeling,  friendship, 
conscientiousness  and  the  highest  self-sacrifice,  pity  and  the  sense  of  justice  or  in- 
justice, as  also  pride,  jealousy,  hatred,  malice,  cunning,  and  desire  of  revenge  are 
known  to  the  animal,  as  well  as  reflection,  prudence,  the  highest  craft,  precaution, 
care  for  the  future,  etc., —  nay,  even  gormandizing,  which  is  usually  ascribed  to 
man  exclusively,  exerts  its  sway  also  over  the  animal.  Animals  know  and  practice 
the  fundamental  laws,  and  arrangements  of  the  state  and  of  society,  of  slavery  and 
caste,  of  domestic  economy,  education  and  sick-nursing;  they  make  the  most 
wonderful  structures  in  the  way  of  houses,  caves,  nests,  paths  and  dams  ;  they 
hold  assemblies  and  public  deliberations  and  even  courts  of  justice  upon  offenders  ; 
and  by  means  of  a  complicated  language  of  sounds,  signs  and  gestures,  they  are 
able  to  concert  their  mutual  action  in  the  most  accurate  manner.  In  short  the 
majority  of  mankind  have  no  knowledge  or  even  suspicion  what  sort  of  creature 
an  animal  is. 


WHAT   ARE  WE?  167 

raising  themselves  from  the  rude,  primitive,  natural  state  to  the 
grade  of  the  civilized  man. 

In  such  a  study  as  this,  just  as  in  the  investigation  of  the 
animal  mind,  we  at  once  arrive  at  the  knowledge  of  quite 
different  things  from  what  the  closet-philosophers  in  their  pre- 
tentious but  hollow  wisdom  have  hitherto  endeavored  to  make 
us  believe,  and  we  ascertain  immediately  that  the  human  being 
in  his  deepest  degradation  or  in  his  rudest  primitive  state  ap- 
proaches the  animal  world  so  closely  that  we  involuntary  ask 
ourselves,  where  the  true  boundary  line  is  to  be  drawn  ?  Who- 
ever then  wishes  to  form  a  judgment  as  to  the  true  nature  of 
man  or  his  true  position  in  nature  must  not,  as  our  philosophers 
and  sozdzsanf  "great-thinkers"  usually  do,*  leave  out  of  con- 
sideration the  primeval  origin  and  developmental  history  of 
man,  and  looking  merely  at  his  own  little  self  in  the  delusive 
mirror  of  self-esteem,  abstra6l  therefrom  a  pitiable  portrait  of  a 
man  after  the  philosophical  pattern.  He  must  on  the  contrary, 
grasp  at  nature  itself  with  both  hands  and  draw  his  knowledge 
from  the  innumerable  springs  which  flow  there  in  the  richest 
abundance. 

Nowhere  do  we  find  these  springs  richer  and  more  copious 
than  in  the  reports  of  travellers  in  distant  lands  as  to  the  savage 
men  and  tribes  which  they  have  met  with,  and  especially  in 
those  simple  narratives  which  often  in  a  few  words  give  us  a 
deeper  insight  into  human  nature  and  its  near  relationship  to 
the  great  outer  world  than  the  study  of  the  thickest  volumes 
produced  by  our  closet-philosophers.  All  the  definitions  of 
these  learned  gentlemen,  all  their  tenets  and  arguments,  all  the 
dedu6lions  from  the  so-called  "highest  principles  of  science" 
which  they  profess  to  have  discovered,  are  broken  by  the  force 

*They  derive  the  name  of  "thinkers,"  like  lucus  a  non  lucendo,  not  from 
thinking:  but  very  frequently  from  not  thinking,  but  are  nevertheless  arrogant 
enough  to  denounce  those  who  disclose  their  threadbare  nonsense,  and  are  not 
satisfied  with  their  empty  verbiage,  as  "  ignorant  materialists."  May  all  thinking 
men  arise  and  chase  these  paid  dec^lers  in  wisdom,  these  profaners  of  the  ♦ample, 
out  of  the  sanctuary  of  true  science  I 


l68  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

of  these  simple  facts,  like  soap-bubbles  against  the  obje6ls 
which  they  strike.  There  are  men  and  tribes  and  conditions 
of  human  life  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth  characterized  by- 
such  an  absence  of  every  thing  that  the  cultivated  European  is 
accustomed  to  regard  as  the  eternal  and  indispensable  attribute 
of  humanity,  that  in  reading  the  accounts  of  them  we  are  in- 
clined to  think  that  we  have  fables  rather  than  truth  before  us. 
Those  who  believe  that  the  distinctive  attribute  of  man  is  to  be 
found  in  his  moral  sense,  or  in  his  higher  intclleclual  aflivity, 
will  find  on  forming  a  closer  acquaintance  with  man  and  the 
conditions  of  human  existence,  that  the  fa6ls  are  no  more  in 
favor  of  their  views,*  than  of  those  who  think  to  find  the 
absolute  pre-eminence  of  man  over  the  animals  in  his  family 
life  and  the  establishment  of  marriage,!  in  his  social  organiza- 

*  See  Appendix  No.  31. 

t  Of  the  institution  of  marriage  many  of  the  savage  tribes  which  have  been 
depicted  in  Australia,  Africa,  Asia,  &c.,  have  as  good  as  no  conception  ;  and 
with  them  family  life  is  at  the  lowest  stage — nay,  almost  lower  than  with  the 
beasts.  Among  the  East-Africans  there  subsists,  as  Burton  states,  no  attach- 
ment between  father  and  child;  but,  on  the  contrary,  there  prevails,  after  the 
time  of  childhood,  a  natural  enmity  between  father  and  son,  as  among  wild 
beasts.  The  children  are  sold,  the  wife  is  driven  out  of  doors  at  pleasure.  Sir 
S.  W.  Baker  says  :  The  Sudan  negro  knows  not  love  ;  the  wife  is  only  a  domestic 
animal  and  a  beast  of  burden  ;  polygamy  prevails  everywhere.  Among  the  Aus- 
tralians, according  to  Duboc,  it  is  only  at  the  beginning  that  the  mother  concerns 
herself  about  her  child  ;  afterwards  the  original  connection  is  entirely  forgotten. 
They,  like  most  of  the  South-Sea  Islander.s,  have  no  knowledge  of  genuine  mar- 
riage, and  hence  have  not  even  the  idea  of  paternity.  Hence  among  such  tribes 
the  heirs  are  often  not  the  father's  own  children,  but  his  sister's  children.  Nay, 
there  is  even  a  tribe,  (the  Wanyamwezi,)  among  whom  the  children  born  out  of 
their  so-called  wedlock,  the  illegitimate,  are  made  heirs,  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
legitimate  !  Similar  facts,  as  Sir  John  Lubbock,  {On  the  Primitive  Condition 
of  Mankind,)  informs  us,  are  found  among  the  ancient  Jews,  Greeks  and 
Romans ;  while  respect  for  woman  has  only  very  slowly  made  its  way  with  the 
advance  of  civilization.  According  to  the  same  author,  many  peoples,  (for 
example  the  Egyptians,  the  Chinese,  the  Greeks,  the  Indians,)  have  even  tradi- 
tions concerning  the /«/ri3tj'?<(://o«  ^w^a'/cc/t  and  marriage  —  which  at  any  rate 
proves  that  the  idea  of  it  cannot  be  innate  and  founded  in  human  nature  as  such  ! 

Finally,  the  most  savage  of  the  savages,  the  Dokos,  the  savages  of  Borneo,  &c., 
have  no  notion  whatever  of  marriage,  wedlock  or  family,  and  live  promiscuously 
with  one  another  like  the  brutes.  Indeed,  as  before  mentioned.  Otto  Schmitz 
says  of  the  Apaches,  who  are  much  superior  to  the  Dokos,  &c.,  that  they  know 
no  marriage,  but  only  a  longer  or  shorter  co-habitation  of  the  sexes,  and  that  the 
children  are  very  soon  lost  in  the  horde. 


WHAT    ARE    WE?  169 

tion,*in  his  sense  of  shame, f  in  his  behefin  God, I  in  his  posses- 
sion of  the  art  of  counting,  §  or  in  the  fa6ls  that  he  alone  makes 
use  of  instruments,  1 1  and  knows  the  use  of  fire  and  employs  it 

*  Even  this  is  only  a  result  of  a  certain  degree  of  social  development  and  among 
the  wildest  peoples  is  so  imperfect  that  they  run  about  pell-mell  in  troops  or 
hordes,  like  wild  beasts,  without  any  chief  or  any  other  arrangements  that  might 
remind  us  of  our  own  social  condition.  On  the  other  hand,  the  principle  of  asso- 
ciation is  developed  to  an  almost  incredible  degree  among  many  of  the  Articulate 
animals.  Think  of  the  bees^  waspSy  tertntts  and  ants  and  their  wonderful  social 
economy,  which  is  carried  out  so  far  that  the  last  mentioned,  according  to  the 
well-known  observations  of  Huber  and  others,  engage  in  set  battles  with  each 
other,  undertake  plundering  expeditious,  bring  home  other  ants  as  slaves  and 
employ  them  in  service,  and  keep  in  their  extensive  and  well-managed  social 
dwellings  other  animals  as  "  milch-cows,"  &c.  The  terntttes  or  white  ants  have  a 
perfectly  organized  state,  with  king,  queen,  workers,  soldiers,  servants,  &c.,  and 
construct  a  building,  ten  and  more  feet  high,  with  domes,  towers,  myriads  of 
chambers,  corridors,  subterraneous  passages,  stone  bridges  and  vaults,  store  rooms, 
&c.,  with  which  in  strength  and  boldness,  as  well  as  judiciousness  of  arrange- 
ment, a  human  edifice  can  scarcely  be  compared.  In  its  interior  is  situated  a  so- 
called  royal  residence,  with  chambers  and  galleries  around  for  the  attendants, 
and  with  special  breeding-rooms  and  nurseries,  and,  lastly,  a  public  place  of 
assembly.  To  carry  off  the  rain  there  are  numerous  gutters  and  tubes,  with 
under-ground  draining-channels.  There  is  no  doubt,  also,  that  the  termites  have 
a  language,  by  the  help  of  which  they  mutually  explain  very  detailed  affairs.  Not 
less  remarkable  are  the  celebrated  dog-co7nmztnilJes  in  the  North  American  prai- 
ries, with  regular  semi-subterraneous  cities  which  sometimes  extend  to  a  circum- 
ference of  thirty  English  miles,  and  contain  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants. 
According  to  the  most  credible  assertions  of  eye-witnesses  the  prairie-dog  fre- 
quently lives  in  his  house  together  with  a  species  of  small  owl  and  the  rattle-snake 
—  which  strange  social  confederacy  appears  to  be  entered  into  for  the  sake  of 
procuring  food  and  of  defence  against  danger. 

t  The  natives  of  Australia  are  destitute  of  all  sense  of  shame  and  never  think 
of  covering  their  pudenda.  As  G.  Pouchet  informs  us,  the  Australians  in  the 
towns  of  the  English  colony,  if  not  prevented  by  the  police,  would  daily  violate 
public  decency  after  the  manner  of  monkeys  in  a  menagerie.  "  The  Australians," 
say  Lesson  and  Garnot,  {Annates  des  Sciences  Naturalies,  1S67,)  "have  never  felt 
the  need  of  a  woolen  covering  otherwise  than  to  protect  their  chest ;  no  idea  of 
shame  has  ever  caused  them  to  think  of  veiling  their  sexual  parts."  More  or  less 
the  same  is  found  in  all  savage  or  uneducated  peoples,  who  in  this  point  are  quite 
like  European  children.  Even  highly  civilized  nations,  (e.g.  the  Japanese,)  have, 
as  is  as  well  known,  quite  different  ideas  of  modesty  from  ours;  and  the  highly 
cultivated  nations  of  antiquity,  the  Greeks,  Romans,  Egyptians,  Pht-nicians,  &c., 
even  consecrated  in  relation  to  sexual  matters  a  lasciviousness  of  manners  of 
which  we  can  now  scarcely  form  a  conception.  (For  particulars  see  Rosenbaum's 
interesting  pamphlet :  GescMchte  der  Lustseitche.)  The  delicate  consideration 
with  which  modern  custi>m  has  regulated  the  mutual  relations  of  the  sexes  and 
has  covered  them  with  a  veil  of  sweet  secrecy,  is  not  any  thing  innate  or  original, 
but  a  consequence  of  the  development  which  forms  the  history  of  civilizatio:),  the 
gradual  raising  of  human  nature  above  that  of  the  brutes.  Nevertheless,  from 
time  to  time  the  old  barbarism  again  breaks  out  with  violence,  either  in  isolated 
shocking  outbreaks  of  the  repressed  or  forcibly  restrained  impulses  or  in  certain 
nudities  or  effronteries  of  society  itself,  tolerated  though  not  sanctioned  by  cus- 
tom. As  a  rule,  however,  such  in  some  measure  morbid  excrescences  of  society 
belong  to  an  age  that  is  dying  out  or  already  morally  submerged,  while  they  are 
almost  banished  by  the  breath  of  a  new  political  or  social  spirit. 

X  See  ,\ppendix  No.  32.     §  See  Appendix  No.  2,2,.     i!  See  Appendix  No.  34. 


lyo  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

for   cooking  his  food,*  that  he  alone   wears   clothing, f  com- 
mits suicide,!  cultivates  the  ground, §  etc.,  etc. 

Articulate  lajiguage  may  certainly  be  regarded  as  the  most 
characteristic  attribute  of  man,  and  by  virtue  of  this,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  better  development  of  the  larynx,  vocal  organs 
and  brain,  and  in  association  with  his  ere6t  posture  and  the 
increased  usefulness  of  the  hands,  he  really  first  became  a  man ; 
yet  it  is  only  the  result  of  a  whole  series  of  long-continued  and 
tedious   processes   of  development,   and  occurs  among  some 

*  There  are  still  peoples  such  as  the  Dokos,  the  Andanians,  &c.,  who  know  not 
the  use  of  fire  and  devour  all  their  food  raw.  Moreover,  that  the  use  of  fire 
cannot  be  an  attribute  of  humanity  as  such  is  shown  by  the  circumstance  that  so 
many  peoples  have  h^&vi  fire-worshipper s ,  and  in  part  are  so  still,  that,  therefore, 
they  considered  fire  something  extra- and  supernatural.  In  like  manner,  when 
Magellan  set  fire  to  the  huts  of  the  Marian-Islanders,  to  whom  fire  was  unknown, 
they  looked  upon  it  as  a  kind  of  living  monster  which  devoured  wood.  Also  in 
the  Lad  rone  Islands  the  Spaniards  found  the  natives  unacquainted  with  the  use 
of  fire.  Finally,  there  are  sufficient  traces  from  antiquity  that  in  the  oldest 
times  the  use  of  fire  was  still  unknown,  in  the  traditions  of  the  Egyptians, 
Phoenicians,  Persians,  Chinese,  Greeks,  &c.,  about  its  introduction  and  the 
gradual  spread  of  the  knowledge  of  it. 

t  See  Appendix  No.  35. 

X  There  is  said  to  be  a  well  authenticated  case  of  the  suicide  of  an  ape.  But 
even  should  this  not  be  the  case,  sufficient  instances  are  known  of  animals, 
(horses,  dogs,  &c.,)  from  excessive  attachment  to  their  dead  or  slain  masters, 
refusing  food  and  so  killing  themselves.  On  the  other  hand,  self-slaughter  is, 
from  intrinsic  moral  reasons,  exceedingly  rare  among  children  and  savages. 

§  Although  M.  Rochet,  (in  the  Bulletin  0/  the  Paris  Anthropological  Society,) 
hcis  endeavored  to  establish  that  agriculture,  as  well  as  the  mental  and  moral 
qualities  and  the  above-mentioned  characteristics,  is  a  sign  of  the  difference 
between  man  and  beast,  yet  it  is  well  known  to  be  only  the  result  of  a  pretty  far 
advanced  state  of  civilization,  while  the  savage  and  primitive  man  lives  merely 
on  the  spontaneous  productions  of  nature  and  what  he  can  get  by  hunting;  and 
from  this  condition  he  passes  first  through  the  pastoral  to  reach  the  agricultural 
stage.  Besides,  animals  at  times  practise  agriculture,  as  is  proved  by  the  example 
of  the  Agricultural  ant  in  Texas,  observed  during  ten  years  by  Dr.  Lincecum 
and  described  by  him  in  \\\&  Journal  0/ the  Linnean  Society,  (quoted  in  the  Aus- 
land,  1862,  No,  10.)  On  ground  with  a  stony  substratum,  they  build  a  store- 
house in  the  soil  and  plant  round  it  a  sort  of  grass  which  bears  a  small  white 
seed.  This  seed  is  gathered,  dried  and  carried  into  the  storehouse.  After  wtt 
weather  it  is  sometimes  brought  out,  dried  and  sorted. 

This  animal  therefore  stands  in  one  respect  higher  than  the  above-mentioned 
negroes  of  Kyischland,  (Africa,)  whom  the  traveller  Baker,  ('.  c.,)  desigi  ated  as 
apes,  who  depend  for  subsistence  solely  on  what  nature  produces,  therefore  neither 
sow  nor  plant,  and  consequently  are  frequently  on  the  verge  of  starvation. 


WHAT   ARE   WE?  I7I 

savage  tribes  in  such  a  rude  and  imperfecR;  condition  that  it  can 
hardly  be  called  language  in  the  human  sense  of  that  word.* 
Formerly  language  was  regarded  as  something  innate  and  in- 
herent in  man,  existent,  even  at  his  first  origin  in  a  certain 
degree  of  development ;  but  the  recent  investigations  of  phi- 
lologists have  taught  us  quite  the  contrary  of  this,  and  shown  us 
that  languages,  like  species,  have  grown  up  and  been  produced 
from  simple  beginnings  by  a  slow  and  gradual  process  during 
the  lapse  of  thousands  of  years,  f  Most  certainly  the  zeal  with 
which  at  the  present  day  the  savants  of  all  countries  study  the 
important  problem  of  the  origin  of  language  and  propose  their 
theories  upon  this  difficult  question,  furnishes  the  best  proof 
that  they  have  escaped  from  the  above  mentioned  prejudice. 
With  an  instin6live  knowledge  that  language  must  have  been 
developed  in  man  gradually  from  the  rudest  commencements, 
they  long  for  information  as  to  the  mode  of  this  evolution  and 
as  to  the  first  efforts  of  speaking  man  to  give  his  thoughts  and 
sentiments  regular  expression  in  connected  speech.  For  un- 
doubtedly the  earliest  man  was  just  as  incapable  of  any  such 
regular  speech,  as  the  animals  and  even  some  savage  tribes  at 
the  present  day. 

According  to  Westropp,  (^Origin  of  Language,^  the  earliest 
man  can  only  be  regarded  as  a  dumb  or  speechless  creature, 
which  only  by  degrees  learnt  to  give  definite  expression  to  his 
feelings  and  necessities,  just  as  children  do  nowadays,  and  a 
very  long  time  must  have  elapsed  during  which  man  was  able 
to  express  his  wants  only  by  gestures  and  inarticulate  sounds. 
But  in  all  this  there  is  nothing  more  degrading  than  in  the 
circumstance  that  we  ourselves  were  once  infants,  "mewling 
and  puking  in  the  nurse's  arms."  Articulate  speech  is  only  a 
gradual  acquisition  which  has  risen  by  degrees  from  the  rudest 
commencement  to  its  present  perfe6lion  ;  like  every  thing  else  it 
has  its  beginning,  its  growth,  its  development,  its  progress,  its 

♦See  Appendix  No. 36.  t  See  Appendix  No.  37. 


172  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

maturity  and  finally  also  its  decline.  Its  development  has  been 
as  much  a  necessity  and  as  much  in  accordance  with  fixed  laws, 
as  that  of  the  body  and  mind  of  man  himself,  and  it  first  arose 
from  those  inarticulate  sounds  or  cries  of  joy,  pain,  grief,  pleas- 
ure, etc.,  which  are  also  known  to  animals.*  Everything  else 
belongs  at  once  to  the  grade  of  development.  Now  as  regards 
the  course  of  this  development,  it  probably  commenced  only 
by  the  formation  of  what  may  be  called  sounds  of  feeling, 
followed  soon  afterwards  by  imitative  sounds,  (onomatopoeia,) 
in  which  the  sounds  of  external  nature  were  imitated.  These 
would  increase  the  scanty  treasury  of  words.  Hence  in  all 
languages,  numerous  and  different  as  they  are,  (the  number  on 
the  whole  earth  is  reckoned  at  about  three  thousand,)  there  is 
a  considerable  number  of  words  of  similar  meaning  and  more 
or  less  similar  in  sound.  Thus  according  to  William  Bell,  {^On 
the  origin  of  langziage,^  the  word  loh,  for  example,  is  a  mono- 
syllabic root  for  the  designation  of  light,  flame,  etc.,  which 
occurs  in  many  languages  and  was  originated  from  the  simple 
exclamation  :  oh!  with  an  L  or  vibration  of  the  tongue  placed 
before  it.  For  a  long  time  language  consisted  only  of  such 
monosyllabic  words,  whilst  by  degrees  the  polysyllabic  words 
were  formed  either  by  doubling  the  simple  sounds,  as  in  the 
words  marmor,  papa,  purpur,  etc. ,  or  by  what  is  called  agglu- 
tination. 

*  The  animal  cry  was,  according  to  Clemence  Royer,  the  first  commencement 
of  speech.  There  were  different  cries  for  the  different  sensations,  as  hate,  love, 
terror,  joy,  anger,  fear,  &c.  These  tones  or  primitive  sounds  were  the  first  roots 
of  all  languages;  and  to  them  the  imitative  sounds  from  external  nature  were 
afterwards  joined.  This  tone-  language  is  as  much  the  property  of  the  brute  as 
of  man;  and,  in  the  widest  sense  of  the  term,  every  animal  has  a  language  — 
that  is  a  means  of  mutual  understanding  with  his  fellows,  whether  it  be  a 
cry  or  a  song,  a  gesture  or  a  look,  &c.  Longing,  fear,  hunger,  love,  &c., 
each  of  these  sensations  had  its  special  expression  with  the  brute  ;  verbal  lan- 
guage only  is  peculiar  to  man ;  but  even  this  was  at  first  merely  a  brutish 
stammering. 

The  gap  between  our  modern  developed  languages  and  this  earliest  primitive 
condition  of  language  was  filled  by  the  whole  long  series  of  prehistoric  peoples, 
with  whom  thousands  of  original  forms  of  language  may  have  become  extinct. 
But  even  now  our  languages  are  still  very  imperfect,  and  this  imperfection  presents 
gfreat  obstacles  to  our  minds  and  their  mutual  intelligence.  Hence  the  fate  of 
humanity  hangs  on  the  future  perfecting  of  languages. 


WHAT    ARE  WE?  1 73 

Examples  of  imitative  sounds  are  the  words  ' '  baa ' '  for  sheep, 
"moo"  for  cow  and  the  like;  or  such  words  as  "wind," 
"whist,"  "rash,"  etc. 

The  simple  exclamation  also  was  imitated  by  companions, 
and  thus  gradually  became  a  fixed  sign  representing  the  senti- 
ment or  feeling  expressed  by  it.  Thus  whist,  the  exclamation 
was  at  first  only  an  involuntary  accompaniment  of  the  sensation, 
it  afterwards  became  independent  of  this,  and  from  being  an 
expression,  was  converted  into  a  sign  of  feeling,  which,  instead 
of  being  called  forth  by  the  feeling,  was  rather  fitted  to  call  it 
forth.  "The  origin  of  the  consciousness  of  the  distin6lion 
between  the  sound  and  the  sensation,"  says  J.  Bleek,  "this 
establishment  of  the  sound  as  a  peculiar  entity  which  being 
seized  by  the  will  is  thus  converted  into  its  instrument,  is  the 
first  foundation  of  humanity." — i^On  the  orighi  of  language, 
Weimar,  1868.) 

But  as  in  most  cases  the  life  of  the  feelings  is  silent,  and  in 
general  only  a  very  small  portion  of  it  makes  itself  heard,  it  is 
easy  to  see  with  what  tardiness  and  difficulty  the  reciprocal 
a6lion  between  word  and  sensation  must  have  produced  the 
gradual  rise  of  speech  and  of  the  consciousness  which  belongs 
to  it.  The  first  stage  of  mutual  communication  by  word  or 
speech  therefore  consisted,  according  to  Bleek,  in  a  person  who 
experienced  a  certain  condition  of  mind  for  which  a  word  was 
known,  uttering  that  word  ;  and  the  first  phase  of  the  existence 
of  the  word  as  such  occurred,  when  the  simple  exclamation  of 
feeling  was  not  uttered  as  an  exclamation,  but  employed  volun- 
tarily in  order  to  call  forth  the  feeling  associated  with  it  or  that 
supposed  by  the  companions  of  the  utterer  to  correspond  to  it. 
In  the  second  phase  the  individual  sound  established  itself  by 
frequent  employment  as  the  conventional  expression  for  the 
sentiment  or  feeling  indicated  by  it,  and  gradually  departed 
more  and  more  from  its  primitive  signification.  At  the 
same  time  the  necessity  of  expressing  mixed  sentiments  also 


174  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

produced  mixed  or  composite  sounds  or  words  and  mixtures 
of  entire  complex  sounds. 

In  the  third  and  last  stage  of  the  first  or  initial  period  of  the 
formation  of  speech,  expressions  were  already  formed  in  this 
manner  by  the  combination  of  known  words  for  a  great  number 
of  mutual  conditions  unassociated  with  any  emotional  sounds, 
and  which  therefore  were  not  expressible  by  words  in  the  previ- 
ous stages.  The  reciprocal  amalgamation  of  distinct  and  previ- 
ously separated  sounds  or  words  then  carried  on  the  formation 
of  new  words,  which  gradually  departed  more  and  more  from 
the  primitive  expressions  of  mere  emotional  life,  and  gave  rise 
to  the  further  development  of  true  language.  This  further 
development,  as  Bleek  remarks,  belongs  to  the  history  of 
language,  rather  than  to  the  problem  of  its  origin,  the  latter 
being  already  solved  by  the  formation  of  words  and  their  sepa- 
ration both  in  sound  and  sense  from  the  primitive  emotional 
sounds. 

The  well-known  zoologist.  Dr.  Gustav  Jiiger,  also  essentially 
adopts  this  mode  of  explanation,  but  he  looks  at  the  question 
chiefly  from  the  zoological  point  of  view  and  endeavors  to 
demonstrate  a  close  conne6lion  between  the  vocal  utterances 
of  man  and  animals. 

According  to  him  this  connediion  is  so  intimate,  that  it  is 
impossible  to  elucidate  the  question  of  the  origin  of  speech 
without  a  careful  study  of  the  language  of  animals.  Speech  in 
the  widest  sense  of  the  word  was  discovered,  according  to  Jager, 
long  before  there  were  any  men  ;  for  the  pairing  call,  which  is 
so  general  among  animals,  is  a  language.  But  still  higher  than 
this  is  the  call  produced  from  the  pairing  call  by  imitation, 
which  is  susceptible  of  various  modifications,  and  capable  of 
expressing  both  joy  and  terror,  satisfad;ion  and  alarm.  Beneath 
these  is  the  simple  emotional  cry,  which  usually  occurs  in  ani- 
mals only  under  the  influence  of  strong  emotions,  such  as  fear 
of  death,   anger,   great  pain,   etc.     Many  have  the  command 


WHAT   ARE   WE  ?  1 75 

only  of  these  two  or  three  sounds,  whilst  others  possess  com- 
paratively a  very  rich  language.  The  most  complex  is  the 
language  of  Birds,  which  have  very  probably  served  as  the 
preceptors  of  man. 

According  to  Jager,  therefore,  the  primitive  speech  of  the 
human  race  was  merely  a  natural  language,  analogous  to  those 
of  animals,  and  also  analogous  to  the  gesture-language  of  sav- 
ages, deaf-mutes  and  pantomimists  ;  whilst  our  present  con- 
ventional languages  rest  solely  upon  a  further  development  of 
the  primitive  natural  language. 

But  according  to  this  author,  the  production  of  the  true 
human  language  was  preceded  by  an  aphonic  or  dumb 
period  of  receptivity,  — just  as  the  Apes,  which  approach 
man  so  closely,  are  remarkably  voiceless,  but  very  receptive 
or  inquisitive,  and  many  ages  of  the  employment  of  a  mere 
gesture-language  may  have  elapsed  before  the  speechless 
primitive  man,  (Haeckel's  Alalus,)  has  brought  his  conceptions 
of  the  outer  world  so  far  that  by  means  of  the  differentiation  of 
the  organs,  which  had  taken  place  in  the  meanwhile,  and  under 
the  influence  of  social  progress,  he  was  able  to  add  sounds  or 
words  to  his  gestures.  By  custom,  inheritance,  etc.,  a  lan- 
guage was  then  at  last  formed  ;  and  this,  in  some  favored  races, 
became  constantly  enlarged  with  the  growth  of  the  idealistic 
power  and  the  increasing  stock  of  ideas  caused  thereby,  whilst 
in  other  races  it  either  remained  stationary,  or  even  entered 
upon  a  retrograde  course. 

How  impossible  it  is  to  establish  an  absolute  separation  be- 
tween the  language  of  men  and  animals,  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  so  many  of  those  general  ideas  which  have  become  quite 
familiar  to  civilized  nations  by  the  richness  and  continued  de- 
velopment of  their  speech,  are  so  strange  to  many  savage  tribes 
that  they  do  not  even  possess  expressions  for  them.  How  then 
can  we  make  it  a  reproach  to  the  animal  that  he  is  destitute  of 
certain  other  ideas  expressing  simpler  relations,  whilst  even 


176  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

among  men  so  great  a  difference  is  to  be  found  in  the  develop- 
ment of  ideas  and  language  ? 

Writing,  also,  like  language,  arose  quite  gradually,  and  by 
the  contemplation  of  external  objedls.  Thus,  according  to 
d'Assier,  {Hisioirc  naturelle  du  Langage,  Paris,  1868,)  the 
first  Chinese  alphabet  represented  all  ideas  by  definitive  pic- 
tures. A  large  circle  denoted  the  siai;  a  smaller  one  conveyed 
the  idea  of  a  star;  a  cross  represented  the  moon.  The  earliest 
Chinese  hieroglyphs  also  agree  almost  entirely  with  the  Egyp- 
tian ;  because  the  first  sensuous  perception  of  external  nature 
was  everywhere  the  same.  The  Peruvians  represented  the 
arrival  of  the  Spaniards  in  America  by  means  of  a  Swan  swim- 
ming towards  the  shore  and  spitting  forth  fire,  in  which  the 
color  of  the  animal  was  intended  to  denote  that  of  the  strangers, 
its  swimming  body  the  ship,  and  its  fire  the  guns  of  the 
Spaniards.  From  this  sort  of  7'ebus  or  hieroglyphic  writing,  in 
which  the  idea  of  night,  for  example,  is  expressed  by  an  owl 
or  by  a  darkened  cross,  the  transition  to  the  true  alphabet 
took  place  very  slowly,  and  has  indeed  never  been  completely 
effe6led  by  many  peoples,  (such  as  the  Chinese  and  Mexicans. ) 
Between  them  there  is  the  intermediate  stage  known  as  sylla- 
bism,  so  that  hieroglyphics,  sallabism  and  letters  constitute  the 
three  successive  stages  of  writing,  the  interchanges  and  inter- 
mixture of  which  are  very  easily  recognized  in  the  inscriptions 
and  manuscripts  of  the  Egyptians 

Thus  we  have  shown  by  the  evidence  of  well-informed  men 
of  science,  and  in  part  even  by  dire6l  observation,  that  even  the 
human  speech,  that  most  important  attribute  of  man  and  of  his 
humanity,  that  chief  aid  to  his  intelle6lual  progress,  that  most 
striking  distinction  between  man  and  the  animals,  is  after  all 
the  product  of  gradual  and  slow  development.  We  have  seen 
that  even  this  can  only  be  regarded  as  a  higher  stage  of  develop- 
ment of  aptitudes  and  faculties  already  existing  in  the  animal 
world;  and  this  being  the  case  it  seems  to  the  author  that  the  last 


WHAT    ARE    WE  r  177 

difficulty  is  removed  which  still  stood  in  the  way  of  the  applica- 
tion of  the  great  organic  law  of  development  and  progress  to 
man  and  of  the  admission  of  his  animal  origin. 

Thus  then  the  light  of  science  is  broadly  thrown  upon  a 
question  which  forqierly  seemed  to  mock  all  the  efforts  of 
investigators,  and  we  have  made  the  first  step  in  an  intelle6lual 
revolution  destined  to  move  the  world  in  the  direction  of  a 
philosophical  realism.  In  consequence  of  this  the  position  of 
man  in  nature  and  his  relation  to  the  world  around  him,  in  other 
words  the  response  to  the  great  question,  "What  are  we?" 
will  be  conceived  in  a  totally  different  spirit,  and  in  one  in- 
finitely more  in  accordance  with  truth  and  reality,  than  has 
hitherto  been  the  case.  There  may  still  be  some  who,  in  the 
face  of  such  a  result  as  this,  cannot  break  free  from  the  prej- 
udices of  the  past ;  and  who  would  rather  consider  themselves 
the  descendants  of  a  lump  of  earth  into  which  God  in  old  time 
breathed  the  breath  of  life,  than  as  the  final  produ6ls  of  a 
natural  process  of  organic  development  and  progress.  Such 
people  may  console  themselves  with  the  words  of  Claparede, 
who  says:  "It  is  better  to  be  a  perfe6lionated  ape,  than  a 
degenerate  Adam,"  or  with  those  of  Bernhard  Cotta,  who  ex- 
presses himself  as  follows  in  his  Geologic  der  Gege7iwart : 
"Our  ancestors  may  certainly  do  us  much  honor.  But  it  is 
much  better  when  we  do  them  honor."  Lastly  they  may  con- 
sider that  human  progress,  which  is  desired  by  all,  if  regarded 
in  the  light  of  the  theory  of  development,  is  in  accordance  with 
natural  laws  and  therefore  incessant  and  eternal,  always  sup- 
posing that  man  does  not  allow  the  powers  and  faculties  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  nature  to  lie  fallow  or  become  abortive,  but 
makes  full  use  of  them  for  the  constant  amelioration  of  his 
condition  and  of  his  position  with  respe6t  to  nature,  materially 
as  well  as  intelledlually, — physically  as  well  as  politically,  socially 
and  morally. 


178  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

To  elucidate  this  progress  and  development  of  the  future,  at 
least  in  its  broad  oudines,  and  both  in  its  natural  and  artificial 
relations  in  accordance  with  the  indications  of  the  past,  will  be 
the  object  of  the  third  and  last  section  of  this  book.  It  will  as 
far  as  possible,  set  before  us  the  future  of  man  and  of  the  human 
race,  its  physiological  and  moral  prognosis  !  "For,"  as  J.  Bleek 
says,  "the  course  which  we  have  already  traversed,  and  the 
comparison  of  what  we  have  attained  with  what  we  have  left 
behind  and  started  from,  justifies  us  in  forming  the  highest 
hopes  with  regard  to  what  our  race  may  possibly  attain. ' ' 


END  OF  THE  SECOND  PART. 


SKELETON  — MAN. 


SKELETON  —  GORILLA. 


WHERE  ARE  WE  GOING? 


THE  FUTURE  OF  MAN  AND  OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE. 

"  The  sovereignty  of  man  consists  in  his  conviction  that  there  can  be  no  higher 
purpose  than  that  of  humanity,  in  which  the  development  of  the  earth  is  con- 
summated."—Radenhausen. 

"As  long  as  the  animal  nature  predominates  in  man,  climate  and  local  condi- 
tions will  exert  their  influence  unrestrictedly,  and  as  in  the  vegetable  and  animal 
worlds,  produce  the  greatest  multiplicity  of  structures.  But  with  the  awakening 
of  the  intellect,  an  activity  commences  which  strives  to  free  man  from  the  con- 
straint of  nature  in  the  same  way  in  the  most  different  countries,  until  at  last  in 
the  highest  stages  of  civilization,  the  better  forms  of  human  society  not  only  ac- 
quire concordant  customs  in  the  matter  of  food,  clothing,  and  habitations,  but 
also,  by  a  similarity  of  thought,  feeling  and  endeavor,  demonstrate  that  higher 
unity  of  the  human  nature  which,  although  not  present  at  the  origin  of  our  race, 
shines  upon  us  as  the  brilliant  goal  of  human  development,  which  is  a  matter  of 
more  importance."— Schaaffhausen. 

"  For  as  soon  as  we  have  once  clearly  understood  that  indii'idual  life  and  ac- 
tion form  only  a  small  fragment  of  the  great,  eternal  life  of  mankind,  and  that  it 
is  only  by  partaking  in  the  latter  that  the  individual  man  really  lives,  and  as  we 
may  hope,  lives  forever,— strivmg  for  the  general  good  no  longer  appears  a  duty 
hard  of  fulfilment,  but  a  necessity  of  our  nature  which  we  are  the  less  able  to 
resist  the  more  we  have  recognized  the  true  essence  of  things.  And  in  truth  it 
is  the  sentiment  of  such  a  relation  that  is  the  great  source  of  all  noble  and  good 
efforts.  Neither  the  fear  of  eternal  damnation,  nor  the  hope  of  individual  hap- 
piness, can  really  serve  as  truly  saving  ideas  to  raise  man  to  a  higher  existence, 
even  when  we  leave  out  of  consideration  that  each  of  these  two  fundamental 
doctrines  of  the  vulgar  dogmatism  really  places  only  a  refined  selfishness  as  the 
lever  of  its  ethics."— J.  Bleek. 

THE  great  mystery  of  the  existence  and  origin  of  man, 
on  which  so  many  generations  have  in  vain  exhausted 
their  strength,  is,  it  seems  to  the  author,  solved  by  the  state- 
ments with  regard  to  the  position  of  man  in  nature  and  his  nat- 
ural relations  to  the  universe,  given  in  the  first  two  sections  of 
this  book.  What  farther  explanations  can  be  required  upon 
these  subjeds  ?  An  insight  into  the  process  of  the  formation  of 
man,  into  the  natural  how?  of  his  origin  and  development  in 
the  past  as  in  the  present,  is  all  that  we  can  rationally  expect 

(181) 


1 82  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

from  human  science.  For  the  question  how  ?  or  whence  ?  is  the 
only  one  which,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  cause  and  effe6l, 
we  can  expect  to  be  answered  by  nature  and  the  essence  of 
things;  whilst  the  why?  is  a  foolish  question,  which  goes  far 
above  us  and  never  can  be  answered  by  us.  If  we  were  to  ask 
why  man  is  here,  it  would  be  equivalent  to  the  question  why  all 
other  things  exist,  why  the  Universe  exists,  why  there  is  any 
existence  at  all?  That  we  can  never  expect  a  satisfactory  an- 
swer to  such  questions  as  these  is  self-evident.  Existence, 
whether  individual  or  general,  is  simply  a  fact  which  we  must 
accept  as  such,  and  at  the  same  time  admit  that,  as,  both  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  laws  of  logic  and  from  experience,  it  must  be 
regarded  as  without  beginning  and  without  end,  both  in  space 
and  time,  it  is  useless  to  talk  about  a  definite  cause  for  it, — 
about  the  why  ?  of  its  being. 

It  is,  however,  quite  a  different  matter  when  we  take  the 
how?  into  consideration,  and  set  before  us  the  question  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  individual  consecutive  phenomena  of 
nature  and  of  existence  are  bound  or  held  together  in  accord- 
ance with  the  inviolable  laws  of  cause  and  effedl.  In  this 
department,  as  we  have  said,  modern  science  has  furnished  us 
with  the  grandest  and  most  unexpe6led  results,  and  has  shown 
us  that  the  whole  great  mystery  of  being,  but  especially  that  of 
organic  existence,  depends  upon  gradual  evolution.  In  the 
process  of  evolution,  so  simple  in  itself,  dwells  the  simple  solu- 
tion of  all  those  complicated  mysteries  which  man  has  hitherto 
believed  could  not  be  solved  without  the  aid  of  supernatural 
powers.  To  trace  this  process  in  its  details  and  in  all  its  phases 
both  in  time  and  space,  and  in  this  way  gradually  to  acquire  a 
more  exa6l  knowledge  of  those  indestru6lible  threads  which 
unite  man  with  nature  and  the  totality  of  extra-human  existence, 
is  the  task  oi  modern  science.  All  appeals  to  supernatural 
or  unnatural  or  even  merely  forced  modes  of  explanation  must 
in  this  case  be  most  stringently  rejected.     Simple,  natural  sup- 


WHERE    ARE    WE    GOING?  183 

positions,  in  accordance  with  the  known  laws  of  nature  or  at  all 
events  not  contradicting  them,  can  alone  claim  acceptance,  but 
these  only  until  they  are  replaced  by  better  ones,  approxima- 
ting still  more  closely  to  the  truth  and  the  real  state  of  the  case. 
When  no  explanation  is  possible  with  the  existing  means  of 
Science,  the  case  must  remain  as  an  open  one,  requiring  eluci- 
dation ;  but  it  must  not  be  covered  up  and  concealed  from  the 
public  eye  by  imaginary  theories  after  the  well-known  and  con- 
venient fashion  of  the  speculative  philosophers,  or  by  the  use 
of  obscure  terms  which  require  an  explanation  of  their  own,  or 
may  even  be  incapable  of  interpretation.  But  as  such  explana- 
tions can  only  relate  to  the  mode  or  to  the  simple  proceeding 
of  a  later  entity  from  an  earlier  one  and  to  their  casual  connec- 
tion, and,  as,  moreover,  with  all  our  knowledge,  we  move 
constantly  in  a  circle,  in  which  the  beginning  and  the  end  are 
nowhere  or  at  every  point,  it  becomes  clear  to  us  why  we  must 
be  satisfied  with  these  explanations  of  natural  conne6lion,  and 
why  the  question  as  to  a  first  or  supreme  cause  of  all  being  or 
as  to  the  why?  of  existence  is  one  which  in  a  philosophical 
sense  cannot  be  raised.*     "Whatever  is  absolutely  incapable 

*  "  The  mystery  of  existence  "  as  the  author  wrote  years  ago  in  a  friend's  album, 
"  dwells  in  the  figure  of  a  circle.  Without  beginning,  without  end,  and  without 
cause,  eternity  can  only  revert  into  itself,  and  begins  and  ceases  at  every  point  of 
the  immeasurable  universe.  But  the  human  intellect,  accustomed  to  see  every- 
thing that  exists  pass  before  it  in  space  and  time,  and  in  accordance  with  the  laws 
of  cause  and  effect,  shrinks  the  more  from  this  simple  solution  of  the  great  world- 
mystery,  the  less  it  has  freed  itself  from  these  barriers  by  reflection  and  knowledge." 

The  speculative  philosophers  or  metaphysicians  indeed  will  be  just  as  averse  to 
such  a  simple  solution  as  the  great  mass  of  the  ignorant,  or  of  those  who  are  cap- 
tive in  theological  bonds,  because  by  it  their  whole  striving  after  the  discovery  of 
supernatural  causes  of  the  world  and  of  the  order  existing  in  it  must  at  once  be 
wrecked,  and  their  comfortable  mode  of  philosophizing  would  immediately  sink  to 
the  level  of  a  useless  clash  of  words  in  the  eyes  of  every  clear-thinking  person. 

"It  is  easy  to  see,"  as  James  Hunt  admirably  says  in  connexion  with  this,  "  why 
so  many  philosophers  still  cling  so  strongly  to  philosophy  in  order  to  solve  the 
problems  of  the  world.  The  reason  is  that  the  method  of  philosophy  in  the  treat- 
ment of  all  questions  is  so  much  easier  than  that  of  the  direct  observation  of  na- 
ture and  careful  accumulation  of  facts,  which  must  be  used  systematically  and 
patiently  in  drawing  conclusions,  that  there  will  always  be  men  who  will  prefer  a 
philosophy  founded  on  brilliant  sophisms  and  fluent  dialectics  to  the  toils  of  a  true 
scientiSc  method." 


1 84  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

of  comparison,"    says   Bufifon,    "is  also  absolutely  incompre- 
hensible; we  only  know  mutual  relations." 

In  conne(5lion  with  this  generally  recognized  truth,  the  third 
or  last  of  the  great  questions  proposed  by  us,  the  question  : 
where  are  we  going  ?  can  only  be  answered  with  regard  to  this 
earthly  life,  with  respect  to  the  earthly  future  and  perfe61:ibility 
of  man.  For  even  if  we  admit  that  it  is  due  only  to  the  limita- 
tion of  our  knowledge,  or  the  imperfection  of  our  means  of 
knowledge,  that  the  destiny  of  the  individual  man  or  of  mankind 
beyond  this  earthly  life  must  ever  remain  hidden  from  us,  or 
that  we  can  never  attain  a  clear  insight  into  the  true  essence  of 
things,*  even  this  admission  would  not  do  the  least  injury. 
Our  efforts,  (whether  theoretical  or  pra6lical,)  can  only  be 
dire(fled  to  that  which  we  are  able  to  grasp  with  our  perceptions 
and  judgment,  and  more  than  a  thousand  years  of  experience 
has  taught  us  that  our  scientific  knowledge  constantly  brings 
us  into  closer  conne6lion  with  nature  and  earthly  existence  the 
more  it  increases  in  depth  and  compass,  whilst  on  the  other 
hand  it  removes  us  in  the  same  proportion  from  the  spiritualistic 
hypotheses  and  chimeras  of  the  past. 

The  researches  into  the  antiquity  and  origin  of  man  and  his 
normal  connection  with  the  organized  world  in  general,  which 
formed  the  subje6l  of  the  first  and  second  seClions  of  this  book, 
furnish  the  best  proof  in  confirmation  of  the  above  assertion. 
Man  did  not  come  upon  the  earth  spontaneously,  but  by  the 
mediation  of  the  same  natural  forces  and  causes  to  which  all  life 
owes  its  origin.  He  did  not  descend  from  above  or  from  the 
ether,  but  he  has  sprung  up  from  below  by  the  same  processes 
which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  terrestrial  development.  In 
accordance  with  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  he  can  be 
regarded  as  nothing  more  than  the  last  and  highest  produdl  of 
that  slow  process  of  development  and  evolution  by  which  our 
planet,  the  earth,   in  the  course  of  enormous  periods  of  time 

*See  Appendix  No.  38. 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING  t 


l8: 


completes  its  natural  cycle  of  life,  which  in  turn  is  only  a  single 
phase  of  eternity.  What  higher  or  more  perfed  struaures 
than  ourselves  may  still  slumber  in  the  womb  of  time,  to  come 
forth  hereafter  by  the  same  process,  we  know  not.  But  upon 
one  point  our  science  leaves  no  doubt,  namely,  that  hitherto 
nothing  higher  or  more  perfed  than  man  has  been  produced 
by  Nature,  and  that  it  is  not  only  the  right,  but  the  duty  of  man 
to  regard  himself  as  the  ruler  over  all  existences  accessible  to 
him,  and  to  guide  and  change  them  as  much  as  possible  for  his 
own  necessities  and  purposes. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  by  this  a  perfedly  new  and  previously 
unknown  principle  was  introduced  into  nature  and  the  world  m 
general,  a  principle  which  is  essentially  distind  from  any  thing 
that  preceded  it.     For  it  is  only  in  man  that  the  world  becomes 
conscious  to  such  a  degree  that  it  rises  out  of  its  previous 
dream-like  natural  existence  and  allows  dominion  over  nature 
to   take   the   place  of  a  nearly   involuntary   subjedion  to   it. 
Nevertheless  this  did  not  take  place  suddenly  or  all  at  once, 
but  very  gradually  and  only  a  long  time  after  the  birth  of  those 
creatures  which  we  may  regard  as  the  earliest  representatives  of 
the  human  type,  for  only  the  gradual  evolution  and  inheritance 
from   generation  to    generation  of  the  faculties  awakened  in 
those  creatures  by  their  more  perfed  organization  could  origin- 
ate that  advance  or  continual  improvement  of  mankind  which 
we  must  at  present  regard  as  the  final  and  highest  objed  of  all 
earthly  existence.     But  whilst,  in  those  earliest  periods  of  his 
development,  man  was  subjeded  to  precisely  the  same  natural 
laws  or  conditions  as  the  forms  of  the  vegetable  and   animal 
worlds  which  had  preceded  him  in  a  long  series  of  influences, 
whether  injurious  or  beneficial,  to  which  he  could  oppose  but  a 
feeble  resistance,  he  has  subsequendy,  in  the  lap.se  of  time,  by 
the  further  development  of  his  mental  facukies,  emancipated 
himself  more  and  more  from  those  influences,  and  has  finally 
attained  a  point  at  which  he  may  say  to  himself  with  no  little 


1 86  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

pride  that  his  present  and  future  fate  has  become  more  or  less 
independent  of  nature,  that  is  to  say,  it  is  in  his  otvn  hands. 
Nature  has,  as  it  were,  recognized  herself  in  him, — has  con- 
sciously advanced  in  opposition  to  herself, — and  has  thus 
undertaken  a  peculiar  task,  the  fulfillment  of  which  will  remove 
both  nature  and  man  further  and  further  from  the  rude  and 
imperfe6l  states  of  the  past. 

By  Darwin's  admirable  investigations  we  have  been  taught 
to  recognize  as  the  principal  cause  of  the  transmutation  and 
evolution  of  the  organic  world  in  its  natural  state  that  struggle 
for  existe7ice,  which  has  now  become  so  celebrated,  in  combi- 
nation with  the  influences  of  variability^  natural  sclectio7i,  inher- 
itance, &c.  All  these  influences,  (perhaps  with  the  exception 
of  inheritance),  must  act  with  the  more  intensity,  the  greater  the 
power  of  nature  over  the  organic  being.  This  applies  also  to 
the  momentum  o{  -migration,  upon  which  much  stress  has  lately 
been  laid,  and  to  the  influence  of  alterations  in  the  external 
conditions  of  life,  which  Darwin,  as  is  well-known,  did  not 
sufficiently  estimate.  For  the  less  the  individual  being  was 
able  to  resist  these  influences  by  intelligence  or  independency, 
or  by  the  extreme  simplicity  of  its  conditions  of  existence,  the 
more  strongly  must  they  have  made  their  dominion  over  it 
felt.  If  the  perfectly  purposeless  co-operation  of  all  these 
causes,  in  themselves  purely  mechanical,  has  produced  not 
merely  a  transmutation  but  at  the  same  time  a  general  advance 
in  the  organic  world,  so  as  finally  to  lead  to  the  birth  of  a  being 
destined  to  put  its  own  spontaneity  in  the  place  of  the  mechan- 
ical forces  of  nature,  this  is  due  neither  to  any  preconceived 
plan,  nor  to  any  personal  merit,  but  it  is  merely  the  necessary 
consequence  of  definite  natural  conditions  coinciding  precisely 
in  a  particular  manner  and  no  other.  Man  has  therefore  no 
one  to  thank  for  his  existence,  and  must  seek  the  purpose  of 
his  existence  only  in  himself  and  in  his  own  welfare  and  that  of 
his   race.      This   welfare,    however,   is   synonymous   with   the 


WHERE    ARE    WE    GOING?  187 

greatest  possible  emancipation  from  the  influence  of,  and  do- 
minion over  those  natural  forces  which  originally  called  him 
and  the  whole  organic  world  into  existence.*  If  the  struggle  for 
existence  be  the  vital  phenomenon  which  most  closely  unites 
man  with  animality,  then  this  must  be  strongest  and  fiercest  in 
the  primitive  or  natural  state,  and  at  first  so  occupy  the  whole  of 
life  that  no  opportunity  is  left  for  intellectual  development,  such 
as  we  now  regard  as  the  task  of  mankind.  On  the  other  hand, 
however,  the  unfavorable  position  of  man  in  the  natural  state 
and  his  natural  defencelessness  face  to  face  with  the  animal 
world,  must  have  forced  him  all  the  more  to  the  greatest  pos- 
sible exertion  of  his  mental  and  bodily  powers  in  the  struggle 
with  the  nature  which  hemmed  him  in  and  overpowered  him, 
thus  becoming  a  main  incitement  to  human  advance  in  the 
matters  of  weapons,  dwellings,  clothing,  food,  &c.  The  diffi- 
culty of  the  struggle  also  impelled  him  to  mutual  assistance  and 

*  Every  answer  to  the  question  so  often  discussed  as  to  the  destiny  of  man  or 
the  purpose  of  his  existence  derived  from  points  of  view  different  from  those  here 
supported,  appears  absurd  or  untenable  as  soon  as  we  confront  it  with  the  facts 
and  with  the  results  actually  attained  in  life  and  history  by  the  individual  man  or 
by  the  human  race.  Existence  is  everywhere  and  in  every  condition  or  moment 
of  its  happening  its  own  object !  Man  is  here  not  to  prepare  himself  (as  the 
Theologian  says)  for  a  better  world,  or  to  inhabit  and  people  the  earth  (as  the 
teleologists  will  have  it),  or  (as  the  philosophers  suppose)  to  bring  about  a  recon- 
ciliation between  being  and  thinking,  between  God  and  the  world, — but,  simply, 
to  be  here  ! — One  might  add  "  and  to  be  happy  or  comfortable  here,"  if  this  pur- 
pose did  not  for  the  most  part  disappear  under  the  mass  of  miseries  and  horrors 
which  the  struggle  for  existence  and  for  the  good  things  of  the  earth  brings  with 
it.  The  free  spontaneity  of  man  with  reference  to  the  general  weal  which  may 
be  attained  in  the  future,  will  alone  be  able  to  raise  him  above  this  difficulty,  and 
consequently  to  make  him  the  creator  of  his  own  happiness.  But  until  then  let 
us  give  up  amusing  him  with  delusive  phantasms  of  a  something  invisible  or  un- 
attainable to  be  striven  for  by  him,  and  drawing  him  away  by  them  from  the  care 
for  his  own  weal  and  that  of  his  race  !  If,  then,  we  wish  to  find  the  true  destiny 
of  man  we  must  turn  away  from  the  general  notion  implied  in  the  word  "  des- 
tiny," which  always  presupposed  the  unproven  existence  of  a  destinator,  and  seek 
the  purpose  of  his  existence  in  himself  and  in  his  relations  to  his  surroundings, 
just  in  the  same  way  that  existence  in  general  also  cannot  be  conceived  with  ref- 
erence to  any  purpose  lying  outside  it,  but  is  merely  existence  for  its  own  sake, 
and  therefore  at  every  moment  fulfills  its  destiny  or  purpose, — that  is  to  say,  if  we 
choose  to  make  use  of  the  essentially  unphilosophical  notion  of  destiny  or  purpose 
at  all. 


l88  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND   FUTURE. 

social  union,  and  this  union  again  became  a  mainspring  of 
progress.  It  was  only  when  the  struggle  with  the  animal 
world  had  been  brought  to  a  successful  issue,  that  the  contests 
of  man  with  man  commenced,  leading  to  those  perpetual 
sanguinary  wars  which  constitute  the  history  of  all  tribes  and 
nations  in  a  backward  state  of  civilization. 

But  what  more  than  any  thing  else  assisted  man  in  his  strug- 
gle for  existence,  was  the  circumstance  that  the  knowledge  or 
experience  gained  by  the  individual  did  not  die  with  him  as  in 
the  case  of  animals,  but  by  the  agency  of  education  and  tradi- 
tion each  successive  generation  was  enabled  to  develop  a 
greater  power  of  resistance  than  its  predecessor  in  its  struggle 
for  existence.  This  influence  may  have  been  very  imperfect  in 
its  action  in  those  earliest  periods  of  humanity  when  man  ap- 
proached most  closely  to  the  animals,  and  thus  the  advance 
during  those  periods  may  have  been  excessively  difficult  and 
slow  (as  indeed  has  already  been  indicated  in  the  first  section)  ; 
but  the  conditions  must  have  become  more  and  more  favorable 
the  further  man  departed  from  his  animal  origin  and  brought 
into  use  the  innumerable  aids  of  advancing  civilization. 

In  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  corporeal  peculiarities  or  advantages  of  organized  beings 
(whether  congenital  or  acquired  during  life)  are  inherited  by 
their  progeny,  to  which,  when  they  are  useful  in  the  struggle 
for  existence,  they  communicate  an  impulse  towards  a  more 
perfect  development.  Experience  leaves  no  doubt  that  this  is  the 
case  also  with  iyitelledual  peculiarities,  advantages,  &c. ,  in  an 
equal,  if  not  in  a  higher  degree.  The  material  reason  for  this 
may  lie  in  the  extraordinary  dehcacy  and  flexibility  of  the 
organ  of  intellectual  activity,  the  brain,  the  gradual  improve- 
ment of  which,  both  in  the  animal  and  the  human  species,  admits 
of  no  serious  doubt.  By  means  of  this  organ  and  by  the  aid 
of  its  activity  man  has  easily  compensated  for  all  the  disad- 
vantages of  his  bodily    organization  in  comparison  with  ani- 


WHERE   ARE    WE   GOING  ?  189 

mals,  and  has  gradually  elevated  himself  to  the  position  of  the 
undisputed  lord  of  creation.  Even  the  powers  of  Nature  he 
has  conquered  and  forced  into  his  service  to  such  an  extent, 
that  in  his  case  the  original  relations  of  Nature  to  the  organ- 
ized being  are  exactly  reversed.  The  struggle  for  existence 
itself,  which  was  at  first,  as  in  the  animals,  almost  entirely  a 
struggle  for  the  external  conditions  of  existence,  has  become 
changed  in  its  whole  nature  by  the  progress  of  the  human  intel- 
lect,— from  the  domain  of  mere  material  life,  it  has  passed  to 
the  region  of  the  mind, — to  the  political,  social  and  scientific 
domain.  At  all  events  this  is  the  case  in  the  civilized  nations, 
but  it  is  true  that  among  savage  tribes  and  on  the  more  unfa- 
vorably situated  parts  of  the  earth's  surface  the  struggle  for 
mere  existence  still  rages  here  and  there  in  its  rudest  form. 

It  is  clear  that  man's  independence  of  the  determining  influ- 
ences of  external  nature  increases  in  proportion  to  the  advance 
of  civilization,  and  that  therefore  the  transforming  effe6ls  of 
climate,  soil,  food,  locality,  &c.,  which  make  themselves  felt  so 
unrestrainedly  by  the  world  ot  animals  and  plants,  must  remain 
more  or  less  without  action  upon  the  civilized  man.  And  in 
fact  we  see  how  the  civilized  European  or  American  by  means 
of  his  improved  arrangements  and  knowledge  is  enabled  to 
maintain  his  existence  under  all  latitudes  and  circumstances, 
and  even  to  compete  successfully  in  their  own  countries  with 
the  aboriginal  tribes  who  may  be  regarded  as  best  adapted  to 
the  localities  and  climate.  All  backward  branches  of  the  great 
human  family  will  by  degrees  disappear  with  but  few  excep- 
tions under  the  pressure  of  civilized  man,  and  we  can  even  now 
easily  foresee  the  time  when  a  certain  uniformity  of  culture  and 
material  conditions  or  a  true  cosmopolitism  of  civilized  man  will 
be  diffused  over  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabited  and  habitable 
part  of  our  planet.  Even  those  natural  influences  which  act 
most  determinately  upon  our  race  in  the  natural  state,  such  as 
climate,  nature  of  the  soil,  distribution  of  land  and  water,  &c., 


igO  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

have  become  to  a  certain  and  not  inconsiderable  extent  service- 
able to  civilized  man  ;  whilst  he  has  found  such  efficacious 
means  of  protedlion  against  those  a6lions  of  nature  which  he 
cannot  directly  govern,  that  they  are  incapable  of  troubling 
him  except  in  a  very  diminished  degree.*  It  need  scarcely  be 
added  that  the  dominion  of  man  over  the  organic  world  of 
animals  and  plants  is  now  so  great  and  permanent  that,  as 
Alfred  Wallace,  Darwin's  associate  in  his  studies  and  opinions, 
has  already  well  shown, f  we  may  foresee  a  time  when  there 
will  only  be  cultivated  plants  and  animals,  and  when  human 
sele6lion  will  have  replaced  natural  sele6lion  everywhere  except 
in  the  sea. 

From  these  points  of  view  we  must  also  answer  the  question 
which,  since  the  promulgation  of  the  Darwinian  theory,  has  so 
frequently  been  raised,  whether  it  is  possible  that  in  the  future, 
other  and  higher  races  or  branches  of  the  great  human  family 
will  be  developed  from  those  now  existing,  as  might  be  expected 
from  the  example  of  the  past.  In  the  various  attempts  that 
have  been  made  to  answer  this  interesting  question,  which  is  of 
such  importance  in  connection  with  the  future  of  the  human 
race,  I  there  has  been  ample  room  for  fancy  and  the  rage  for 

*  On  the  great  Pacific  railroad,  man  now  traverses  in  a  few  days,  surrounded 
by  all  the  conveniences  of  the  highest  luxury  and  without  the  least  personal 
fatigue,  the  greatest  breadth  of  the  greatest  continent  of  th^  earth,  rushing  now 
over  boundless  prairies  and  now  between  the  dreadful  precipices  of  snow-capped 
mountains,  which  formerly  kept  thousands  of  unlucky  wanderers  for  months  on 
the  road  and  cost  them  life  and  health.  And  at  the  same  time  he  knows  that  at 
the  moment  of  his  departure  his  arrival  at  his  destination  which  will  take  place 
a  week  later,  has  already  been  communicated  there  by  means  of  the  railway  tele- 
graph, and  has  been  made  known  in  the  local  journals  the  day  afterwards! 

t  On  this  subject  see  my  Six  Lectures  on  the  Darwinian  Theory,  Leipzig,  1868. 

\  According  to  an  English  writer,  J.  W.  Jackson,  (see  Anthropological  Re- 
view, 1867,)  the  existing  man  in  the  view  of  the  developmental  theory  is  only  the 
commencement  of  a  new  Zoological  order  or  of  the  biped  and  bird-type  of  the 
Mammalia.  He  will,  therefore  hereafter,  become  more  covered  with  hair  or 
feathers,  divide  into  different  species  and  genera,  and  in  his  perfected  state  will 
only  inhabit  suns,  of  which  the  planets  are  merely  the  embryos.  In  his  morcil 
nature  man  is  not  the  fulfillment  of  the  Divine  idea  of  manhood,  but  only  a 
divine  preparation  for  this.     "There  is  method  in  this  madness  !" 


WHERE    ARE    WE    GOING?  IQI 

hypothesis  to  make  themselves  felt,  although  as  yet  they  have 
produced  nothing  tenable.  If  the  question  be  conceived  merely 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  theory  of  evolution,  this  being  ac- 
cepted as  an  incontestable  natural  law,  we  can  scarcely  find 
any  but  an  affirmative  answer  for  it.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
when  we  recognize  the  fa6l  that  the  activity  of  man  himself  has 
introduced  an  entirely  new  order  into  the  world  of  living  beings 
and,  partially  at  least,  substituted  rational  spontaneity  for  the 
blind  force  of  nature,  we  shall  be  inclined  to  doubt  whether 
man  in  his  present  condition  can  be  regarded  as  unconditionally 
governed  by  the  above-mentioned  law  or  condition  of  things. 
The  causes  which  in  early  times  of  the  human  race  drove 
certain  tribes  or  branches  to  quit  their  dwelling  places  for 
distant  regions,  where  they  sometimes  subjugated  the  people 
living  there  and  sometimes  intermingled  with  them,  in  con- 
jundlion  with  their  greater  rudeness  and  the  stronger  influences 
of  the  forces  of  nature,  may  in  those  days  have  given  many 
opportunities  for  the  breaking  ofl"  of  new  races  or  varieties  of 
man,  even  though  we  can  scarcely  believe,  (with  Wallace,)  in 
the  primitive  unity  of  the  human  race  or  assume  that  the  many 
and  great  diversities  of  the  human  type  are  all  mere  ramifica- 
tions of  a  single  fundamental  stock,  produced  by  the  struggle 
for  existence.  On  the  contrary  it  has  already  been  shown  in 
the  second  part  of  this  book,  how  many  important  reasons 
there  are  in  favor  of  the  opinion  that,  even  at  his  first  develop- 
ment from  the  world  of  animals,  man  made  his  appearance  as  a 
number  of  different  species.  These  species  may  certainly  have 
subsequently  become  extraordinarily  multiplied  and  increased 
and  may  sometimes  also  have  intermixed,  but  nevertheless  we 
must  not  suppose  that  this  process  will  continue  without  limit 
when  opposed  by  the  mighty  and  equalizing  influences  of 
civilization.  It  seems  rather  to  be  probable  that  under  the 
influence  of  this  momentum  a  reducing  movement  will  be 
opposed  to  the  differentiating  one,  thus  tending  to  superinduce 


192  MAN   IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

a  greater  uniformity  or  similarity  of  mankind  in  all  parts  of  the 
earth,  and  this  by  the  destrudlion  of  the  weaker  and  a  constant 
increase  of  the  stronger  or  more  intelligent  races. 

By  all  this  the  possibility  of  the  formation  of  a  new  and  higher 
race  in  some  particularly  favored  locality  and  from  a  stock 
chara6lerized  by  remarkable  adaptability  is  by  no  means  ex- 
cluded, but  considering  the  equalizing  tendencies  of  the  present 
day  and  especially  the  rapidity  of  communication  and  the  con- 
sequent diffusion  of  every  advance  in  civilization,  such  a  possi- 
bility does  not  seem  probable.  In  the  present  aspe6l  of  the 
struggle  for  existence  bodily  influences  or  external  influences 
in  general  come  but  little  into  the  account, — the  battle  is  now 
fought,  as  has  previously  been  stated,  chiefly  upon  intelle6lual 
and  moral  fields,  and  these  now-a-days  are  readily  and  quickly 
equalized  over  the  whole  civilized  surface  of  the  earth. 

Thus,  if  what  has  just  been  said  is  correal:,  there  is  no  great 
room  to  expe6l  the  formation  of  new  and  more  highly  endowed 
races  of  men,  but  nevertheless  this  need  not  impair  the  prospe6t 
of  a  progressive  development  of  humanity  and  of  the  human 
race  itself  The  progress  remains  the  same  or  becomes  still 
more  considerable,  but  the  mode  or  the  means  by  which  it  is 
attained  are  difierent.  Whilst  the  struggle  between  peoples 
was  formerly  a  contest  of  weapons,  strength  of  body,  courage 
and  ferocity,  it  now  consists  in  an  emulation  in  good  and  useful 
arts,  in  discoveries,  contrivances  and  sciences.  The  time  is 
past  in  which  one  people  subjugated  another  or  exterminated 
it  to  take  its  place ;  it  is  not  by  destru6lion  but  by  peaceful 
competition  that  one  can  attain  a  superiority  over  the  other. 
But  by  this  means  that  uniformity  of  culture  and  that  intermix- 
ture of  races  are  brought  about,  which  so  powerfully  oppose 
the  separation  of  new  species.  The  advancing  development  of 
the  human  race  will  not  therefore  in  future  occur  solely  or 
chiefly  in  particular  races  destined  eventually  to  subjeft  or 
displace  the  others,  as  has  hitherto  been  the  case,  but  it  will 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING?  I93 

constitute  an  uniform  acquisition  of  the  whole  species.  How 
far  humanity  itself  will  at  the  same  time  undergo  development 
may  be  difficult  to  determine  beforehand  ;  but,  in  harmony 
with  the  change  in  the  nature  of  the  struggle  for  existence, 
this  development  will  certainly  be  rather  intellectual  than  cor- 
poreal, or  in  other  words  it  will  advance  pari  passu  with  a 
greater  evolution  of  the  tendencies  and  faculties  now  slumbering 
in  the  brain  of  man.  For  as  man  now-a-days  carries  on  his 
struggle  for  existence  chiefly  by  means  of  this  organ,  and  this 
will  be  the  case  more  and  more  hereafter,  so  the  beneficial  and 
propulsive  consequences  of  this  struggle  will  also  be  favorable 
to  this  organ  and  its  activity,  as  indeed  we  know  from  ex- 
perience it  has  been  in  the  past.*  Even  backward  peoples  or 
races  when,  favored  by  their  small  personal  requirements,  they 
come  into  competition  with  civilized  man,  (as  in  the  case  of  the 
Chinese  and  Africans  in  America,)  can  only  stand  this  com- 
petition permanently  when  they  at  the  same  time  adopt  all  the 
existing  aids  of  civilization  and  follow  the  same  general  course 
by  which  humanity  is  at  present  striving  to  reach  its  ideal  of 
civilization.  But  by  this  means  they  also  are  carried  away, 
perhaps  unwillingly  or  at  least  unconsciously,  by  the  general 
movement  of  civilization  which  has  been  set  going  by  the  more 
highly  developed  brain  of  the  Europeans,  and  thus  sink  more 
or  less  as  specially  characterized  races. 

So  far  it  would  appear  that  all  the  momenta  which  are  con- 
ne6led  with  the  progress  and  dissemination  of  civilization  over 
the  earth's  surface  are  less  in  favor  of  the  formation  of  new 
races  of  man,  than  of  the  diffusion  of  a  more  or  less  uniform 
type  of  high  human  culture, — and  this  would  also  be  the  issue 
of  human  development  which,  in  accordance  with  the  general 
principles  of  humanity  and  justice,  must  appear  most  desirable. 
The  suppression  of  a  lowly  race  or  people  by  a  higher  or  more 
powerful  one  has  always  produced  such  a  mass  of  misery  and 

•See  Appendix  No.  39. 


194  MAN   IN  THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

injustice,  that  the  repetition  of  such  a  process  can  only  evoke 
the  most  disagreeable  sensations  in  every  friend  of  humanity. 
In  the  present  state  of  the  human  conscience  such  suppressions 
as  this  would  appear  to  be  doubly  cruel  and  lamentable,  even 
though  the  replacement  of  the  inferior  by  a  higher  or  better 
type  must  in  itself  be  regarded  as  just.  But  inasmuch  as  this 
displacement  or  replacement  may  take  place  under  present 
circumstances  without  a6i;s  of  violence  and  merely  by  the  irre- 
sistible power  of  convi6lion,  the  common  and  uniform  progress 
of  humanity  has  become  a  more  probable  course  than  that  of 
the  suppression  of  races.  At  present,  indeed,  mere  example 
generally  suffices  among  the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth  to 
render  every  progress,  every  improvement,  every  increase  of 
knowledge  common  property  ! 

Thus  in  the  lapse  of  time  and  by  the  progress  of  civilization 
the  struggle  for  the  means  of  existence,  such  as  we  witness  in 
all  its  unmitigated  violence  in  the  life  of  animals  and  in  the 
lower  stages  of  human  development,  has  become  rather  a 
struggle  for  existence  itself  and  a  contention  both  of  individuals 
and  of  peoples  for  the  acquisition  of  the  highest  earthly  benefits, 
in  which  we  have  to  do  less  with  mutual  suppression,  than  with 
mutual  competition  or  overreaching. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  concluded  from  this  that  the 
struggle  itself  has  therefore  become  weaker  or  easier.  On  the 
contrary  it  rages  on  the  domain  of  morals,  to  which  it  has 
been  transferred,  as  violently  and  inexorably,  as  it  formerly 
did  on  the  physical  field.  Moreover  it  has  become  more 
complicated  and  multifarious  than  the  rude  struggle  with 
nature,  as  it  no  longer  relates  merely  to  the  simple  support  of 
existence,  but  to  a  great  number  of  advantages  of  political, 
social  or  material  position  which  are  united  therewith.  On  one 
hand  this  has  produced  the  advantage  that  the  struggle  has 
called  forth  in  man  a  whole  series  of  impulses  and  faculties, 
which  are  scarcely,  if  at  all,  developed  in  the  animal,  and  in 


whp:re  are  we  going?  195 

this  way  has  become  a  principal  cause  of  both  general  and 
individual  progress, — whilst  on  the  other  hand  it  has  given  rise 
on  the  moral  domain  to  horrors  and  barbarities  without  number, 
of  just  the  same  kind  as  those  which  formerly  existed  in  phys- 
ical life.*  In  comparison  with  the  mere  struggle  with  nature, 
the  social  struggle  of  man  has  the  further  great  disadvantage 
that  the  eflfe6ls  of  the  natural  laws  are  more  or  less  prejudiced 
by  the  will  and  the  contrivances  of  man,  and  that  in  this  case 
therefore  it  is  by  no  means  always  the  best,  the  strongest  or 
the  best  fitted  individual  that  may  expert  to  be  victorious  over 
his  competitors.  On  the  contrary  the  rule  is  rather  the  sup- 
pression of  individual  intellectual  greatness  by  the  influence 
of  family,  position,  race,  wealth,  &c.,  in  the  interests  of 
personal  preferences.  Nevertheless  the  impulse  of  human 
nature  towards  movement  and  progress  is  so  considerable 
that  it  attains  its  object  even  under  the  most  unfavorable 
circumstances  ;  but  how  much  more  would  this  be  the  case 
if  these  obstacles  and  inequalities  were  as  far  as  possible  re- 
moved, leaving  a  free  stage,  unaffected  by  injustice  and  oppres- 
sion, for  the  action  of  the  natural  law  !     The  struggle  of  man 

*  In  a  social  point  of  view,  F.  A.  Lange  (Die  Arbeiterfrage,  1S65,)  has  added  to 
the  struggle  for  existence  the  struggle  for  an  advantageous  position,  the  funda- 
mental law  of  which,  however,  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  struggle  for  existence, 
inasmuch  as  the  germs  of  the  capacity  and  inclination  for  advantageous  position 
are  scattered  through  the  masses,  but  destined  in  the  great  majority  to  be  aborted. 
Take  away  or  diminish  the  pressure  which  the  struggle  for  existence  opposes  to 
the  aspiring  powers,  and  forms  and  performances  of  an  advantageous  kind  shoot 
up  in  unexpected  abundance  ;  whilst  by  an  increased  pressure  the  finest  talents 
become  aborted,  and  this  with  the  heavy  consciousness  of  abortion.  It  is  nothing 
but  a  deeply  rooted  error  to  suppose  that  every  talent  or  genius  will  work  its  way 
under  any  circumstances.  We  forget  especially  in  this  to  take  into  account  the 
effect  of  higher  position  upon  the  development  of  the  fundamental  powers,  and 
over-estimate  the  performances  of  those  who  are  accidentally  highly  placed  in  ac- 
cordance with  their  value  to  the  whole.  This  evil  can  only  be  operated  against 
by  lightening  as  much  as  possible  the  struggle  for  existence  by  means  of  such 
arrangements  as  will  present  space  and  tlie  possibility  of  development  to  every 
aspiring  talent,  and  prevent  in  future  the  weal  of  millions  from  being  sacrificed 
to  the  glory  of  a  feivt  In  the  greatest  possible  equalization  of  the  means  by 
which  the  struggle  for  existence  is  fought  out  by  each  individual,  lies  the  problem 
of  the  whole  future  of  the  human  race  ! 


196  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND   FUTURE. 

for  existence  is  also  far  more  full  of  suffering  than  that  of  the 
animal,  inasmuch  as  man,  whether  as  a  class  or  an  individual, 
generally  feels  the  consequences  of  neglect,  oppression  or  con- 
quest very  heavily  and  painfully,  whilst  the  animal  only  sees  a 
blind  natural  destiny  in  his  lot  and  bows  before  it  unresistingly. 
This  sentiment  in  man  becomes  especially  painful  when  the 
general  consciousness  of  the  good  or  better  is  more  or  less  in 
advance  of  the  actually  existing  arrangements.  It  is  in^such  a 
critical  period  that  we  now  find  ourselves,  for  there  has  probably 
never  been  a  period  in  which  there  existed  so  great  a  dispro- 
portion between  requirement  and  fulfillment,  between  idea 
and  actuality,  between  thought  and  being,  as  at  present. 

All  arrangements  in  the  state,  in  society,  in  the  church, 
in  education,  in  work,  &c.,  in  consequence  of  a  most  promi- 
nent law  of  inertia,  have  remained  far  behind  what  is  re- 
quired by  the  general  human  consciousness,  elevated  as  it  is  by 
scientific  knowledge,  reflection  and  material  progress.  If  the 
forces  opposed  to  progress  had  not  so  great  and  powerful  a  re- 
serve in  the  indolence  and  immobility  of  the  great  and  ignorant 
masses,  a  very  different  state  of  things  would  long  since  have 
taken  the  place  of  that  which  has  hitherto  prevailed. 

In  such  a  position  of  affairs  as  this  there  can  be  no  greater  or 
more  elevating  task  for  the  philanthropist,  than  the  investiga- 
tion of  those  points  in  which  this  disproportion  makes  itself 
most  strongly  felt,  and  in  which  the  struggle  for  existence  may 
be  rendered  easier  and  more  advantageous  both  for  the  indi- 
vidual man  and  for  mankind  in  general.  These  are  at  the  same 
time  the  very  points  at  which  man  is  best  able  to  show  his 
dominion  over  the  rude  natural  conditions,  and  thus  to  raise 
himself  furthest  above  his  lowly  past.  The  farther  he  departs 
from  the  point  of  his  animal  origin  and  relationship  and  re- 
places the  force  of  nature,  which  formerly  exerted  an  unlimited 
influence  over  him,  by  his  own  free  and  rational  spontaneity,  the 
more  does  he  become  man  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  and 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING  ?  197 

the  more  does  he  approach  that  goal  which  we  must  regard  as 
the  future  of  man  and  of  the  human  race.  But  for  this  purpose 
it  is  above  all  things  necessary  for  him  to  recognize  that  his 
natural  destiny  can  never  be  attained  by  him  so  long  as  he,  like 
the  animals,  feels  only  as  an  individual  being  and  carries  on  his 
struggle  for  existence  upon  his  own  account  alone,  and  guided 
by  mere  personal  or  egotistic  motives.  Man  is  a  sociable  or 
social  being  and  can  evidently  attain  his  destiny,  and  conse- 
quently also  happiness,  only  in  conjunction  with  his  like,  or  in 
other  words,  in  the  midst  of  human  society.  The  individual  is 
all  that  he  can  be  only  in  and  with  humanity  at  large,  or  by  its 
means,  and  his  endeavors  after  personal  happiness  are  therefore 
most  intimately  connected  with  the  striving  of  mankind  in  gen- 
eral after  prosperity  and  progress. 

This  great  and  evident  truth  has  unfortunately  been  too  much 
misunderstood  or  overlooked  hitherto.  It  is  true  that  civil- 
ized man  has  long  since  overcome  the  rudest  and  most  primi- 
tive form  of  the  struggle  for  existence  by  means  of  regular 
political  and  social  institutions,  and  invented  a  multitude  o 
arrangements  which  are  intended  or  adapted  to  protect  individ- 
uals at  least  from  the  most  injurious  consequences  of  this  con- 
test, and  also  to  secure  the  possibility  of  existence  to  the  weak 
and  defenceless.  Personal  benevolence  derived  from  the  prin- 
ciples of  general  philanthropy  also  accomplishes  much  that 
serves  to  soften  the  hardships  and  terrors  of  the  contest,  or  at 
all  events  to  shelter  those  who  are  overcome  in  it  from  being 
pitilessly  trodden  down.  But  that  this  is  the  case  is  rather  the 
result  of  chance  than  of  necessity,  and  we  cannot  deny  that  the 
essential  principles,  upon  which  even  now  human  society  is 
founded,  are  still  the  old  principles  of  the  rough  struggle  with 
nature  which  have  only  acquired  a  milder  form  by  their  transfer 
to  the  moral  or  intellectual  region.  That  these  principles  are 
not  every  where  applied  to  their  fullest  extent,  is  due  to  the 
amelioration  superinduced  by  the  general  goodness  of  human 


198  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

arrangements,  and  by  the  greater  dififusion  of  the  principles  of 
humanity  among  mankind  ;  but  as  a  general  rule  these  prin- 
ciples only  make  themselves  felt  where  the  good  or  the  interest 
of  the  individual  as  such  is  not  in  question,  whilst,  wherever 
this  is  the  case,  social  egotism  has  no  bounds  and  recoils  before 
no  deeds.  Even  now-a-days  those  who  are  stronger,  richer, 
more  highly  placed  in  society,  or  more  knowing  than  the  rest, 
exercise  an  almost  undisputed  dominion  over  the  weak,  the 
ignorant  and  the  lowly,  and  think  it  quite  proper  to  exert  their 
powers  to  the  utmost  in  their  own  interests. 

In  such  a  state  of  things  the  collective  body  cannot  well  feel 
as  such  ;  it  must  perceive  that  it  is  better  that  all  should  strive 
with  united  forces  and  mutual  support  towards  the  same  goal, 
towards  liberation  from  the  trammels  of  the  forces  of  nature, 
than  that  the  best  powers  should  destroy  each  other  by  mutual 
contests.  Competition,  which  in  itself  is  so  beneficial,  may  and 
will  continue,  but  it  must  be  transformed  from  the  old  and  rude 
form  of  contest  and  destruction  in  the  struggle  for  existence 
into  the  nobler  and  essentially  human  form  of  competition  for 
the  highest  general  well-being.  In  other  words  the  struggle  for 
the  means  of  existence  will  be  replaced  by  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence, man  by  humanity  at  large,  mutual  conflic^^  by  universal 
harmony,  personal  misfortune  by  general  happiness,  and  general 
hatred  by  universal  love  !  With  every  step  in  this  path  man 
will  depart  more  and  more  widely  from  his  past  animal  con- 
dition, from  his  subjugation  to  the  forces  of  nature  and  their 
inexorable  laws,  and  approach  more  and  more  to  the  ideal  of 
human  development.  On  this  course  he  will  find  again  that 
Paradise,  the  ideal  of  which  floated  before  the  fancy  of  the  most 
ancient  nations,  and  which,  according  to  tradition,  was  lost  by 
the  sin  of  the  first  man.  The  only  difference  will  be  that  this 
Paradise  of  the  future  will  be  not  imaginary  but  real,  that  it  will 
come  not  at  the  beginning  but  at  the  close  of  our  development, 


WHERE    ARE   WE   GOING  ?  IQQ 

and  that  it  will  not  be  the  gift  of  a  Deity,  but  the  result  of  the 
labors  and  merits  of  man  and  of  the  human  intelle6l. 

After  having  established  the  general  principles  from  which, 
in  accordance  with  the  materialistic  or  naturalistic  conception 
of  the  Universe,  we  must  regard  and  predial  the  future  develop- 
ment of  man  and  of  the  human  race,  we  have  now  to  apply  the 
general  views  thus  obtained  to  particulars,  and  enquire  how  the 
different  forms  of  human  thought  and  sociality  will  have  to  be 
moulded  in  future  in  accordance  with  these  principles. 


GOVERNMENT. 


THE  purpose  of  government  is  the  attainment  of  the  greatest 
possible  welfare  for  all.  As  this  is  conceivable  only  under 
the  existence  of  the  greatest  possible  freedom  for  all,  the  free 
spontaneity  of  all  nations  and  the  legal  equality  of  every  citizen 
of  a  state  must  be  the  highest  principles  of  every  constitution  of 
the  future.  That  this  requirement  a  priori  excludes  every 
monarchical  or  hierarchical  principle  is  a  matter  of  course.  In  a 
political  relation  no  one  should  be  the  subje6l  or  the  lord  of 
another  !  The  introdu6tion  of  a  republican  form  of  Govern- 
ment in  the  civilized  states  of  Europe,  America,  &c. ,  can  there- 
fore only  be  regarded  as  a  question  of  time.  The  existing 
monarchies  are  nothing  more  than  the  remains  of  the  former 
feudal  state  and  of  the  military  conquests  of  past  times,  or 
perishing  ruins  of  a  period  when,  in  politics,  man  only  recog- 
nized the  relations  of  Lord  and  Subje6l,  of  conqueror  and 
conquered.  The  sentiment  of  the  present  day  is  agitated  to 
its  inmost  depths  by  the  thought  that  07ie  should  be  the  ruler 
or  to  a  certain  extent  the  possessor  of  many,  or  that  many 
should  be  the  subjects  of  a  single  individual,  and  this  condition 
would  long  since  have  been  got  rid  of  if  the  upholders  of  the 
old  system  could  not  calculate  upon  the  support  of  the  inert 
and  indolent  masses,  who  have  been  so  long  accustomed  to 
obedience,  in  opposition  to  the  knowledge  of  the  more  culti- 
vated classes,  and  if  a  certain  dread  of  change  and  of  the 
uncertainty  of  the  future  were  not  more  powerful  even  among 
a  sedlion  ot  the  latter  than  their  insight  into  better  things. 

(200) 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING?  20I 

The  defenders  of  such  a  state  of  affairs  usually  assert  that  the 
people  are  not  ripe  for  a  republican  form  of  government ;  but 
in  this  they  apply  an  idea,  good  in  itself,  to  a  false  argument, 
as  even  the  best-formed  fruit  will  never  attain  maturity  in  the 
absence  of  the  vital  conditions  necessary  for  it,  such  as  air, 
light,  heat  and  nourishment.  But  for  the  maturatio.i  of  free- 
dom, the  best  agent  is  freedom  itself  A  man  whose  limbs  are 
tied  will  never  learn  to  move  -Veely,  whilst  wh  ^n  he  is  allowed 
to  make  free  use  of  them  he  may  perhaps  fall  once  or  twice  but 
will  always  stand  up  again. 

Moreover  political  freedom  is  in  itself  a  thing  so  simple  and 
easy  of  comprehension  that  even  some  of  the  most  ancient 
civilized  nations,  and  amongst  these  such  as  were  most  noted 
for  intellectuality,  possessed  it  to  a  very  considerable  extent; 
and  it  would  truly  be  a  remarkable  circumstance  if  men  at  their 
present  stage  of  culture  are  not  ripe  for  a  state  for  which  their 
civilized  predecessors  were  well-prepared  thousands  of  years 
ago.  If  we  are  to  wait  until,  under  the  pressure  of  a  mo- 
narchical form  of  government  all  7ne7i  without  exception  shall 
pronounce  in  favor  of  a  change  to  the  republican  form  from 
their  own  judgment  and  conviction,  we  may  probably  wait  for 
ever.  But  in  all  times  the  better  understanding  of  the  few  has 
outstripped  the  want  of  intelligence  of  the  many  and  formed 
the  leaders  of  the  ignorant  masses  to  the  greatest  revolutions. 
This  will  be  the  case  also  in  the  politics  of  the  future,  and  the 
more  inasmuch  as  the  example  of  grandest  political  develop- 
ment known  in  history  is  extant  in  the  present  day  under  a 
republican  form  of  Government.  It  is  quite  inconceivable  that 
the  United  States  of  America  could  ever  have  taken  that  un- 
exampled flight  of  political  and  material  development  that  it 
adually  has  taken,  under  a  monarchical  form  of  Government, 
however  much  there  may  be  to  blame  in  their  political  manage- 
ment. 

Many,  indeed,  reply,  and  with  justice,   that  in  poUtics  less 


202  MAN    IN    THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

depends  on  the  form  than  on  the  substa7ice,  and  that,  as  history 
proves,  men  may  live  with  much  less  freedom  under  a  repub- 
lican form  of  government,  than  under  some  others.  But  the 
misuse  of  a  thing  does  not  justify  the  heaping  of  blame  upon  it, 
and  if  a  monarchy  leaves  the  liberty  of  the  subject  unmolested, 
this  is  more  or  less  a  matter  of  accident  or  good  will  ;  whilst 
if  freedom  suffers  in  a  republic,  the  mass  of  the  citizens  are 
themselves  to  blame,  but  are  at  the  same  time  in  a  position  to 
correct  their  errors.  But  even  if  all  these  advantages  did  not 
exist,  the  mere  pride  of  the  freeborn  and  freethinking  man  must 
reject  with  indignation  every  thought  of  personal  subordination 
in  a  political  point  of  view,  and  put  in  for  himself  a  claim  to  the 
right  of  free  spontaneity  and  to  the  benefit  of  legal  equality. 

Among  the  republicans  of  the  present  da)^  there  exists  a 
rather  profound  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  comparative 
advantages  o{  federalism  and  centralistn  —  of  a  confederate  or 
united  republic.  The  latter,  being  the  simpler  and  more 
natural,  would  probably  not  have  met  with  so  many  opponents 
if  the  minds  of  pohticians  had  not  been  unnecessarily  prejudiced 
against  its  principles  by  the  disagreeable  results  which  have 
been  experienced  in  France  from  the  excessive  extension  of 
centralization.  On  the  other  hand,  the  experience  neither  of 
Switzerland,  nor  of  North  America,  (both  federal  republics,) 
is  at  all  in  favor  of  federalism,  the  consequence  of  which  has 
been  in  the  former  the  proverbial  cantonish  spirit  and  the 
Sonderbund  war,  and  in  the  latter  the  great  American  civil  war 
which  spread  so  much  misery  and  unhappiness  over  the  great 
republic  of  the  west.  In  federal  republics  we  have  to  fear  the 
breaking  up  and  the  self-will  of  the  individual  states ;  whilst 
in  the  united  republics  the  infringement  of  liberty  by  the  central 
power,  and  an  unnecessary  subordination  of  political  or  local 
peculiarities  under  the  general  will,  are  to  be  dreaded.  Both 
these  difficulties,  it  seems  to  the  author,  may  be  easily  got  rid 
of  by  the  combination  of  the  principle  of  unity,  which  is  essen- 


WHERE    ARE    WE   GOING  ?  203 

tial  to  good  government  with  the  widest  possible  extension  of 
the  autonomy  or  self-government  of  the  communities. 

In  the  government  of  free  communities,  such  as  our  German 
ancestors  possessed,  there  is  the  surest  foundation  for  the  indi- 
vidual liberty  of  the  citizen,  and  it  is  also  adapted  to  allow  free 
play  to  all  justifiable  peculiarities  of  particular  races  or  districts 
without  injury  to  the  necessary  unity  of  the  entire  state  and  its 
government.  Even  in  the  animal  organism,  which  may  furnish 
us  with  the  best  type  of  the  organism  of  the  state,  each  indi- 
vidual part,  nay  even  every  individual  cell  or  cell-complex, 
possesses  its  own  individuality,  and  yet  by  its  activity  con- 
tributes its  full  share  to  the  existence  of  the  whole.  This 
wonderful  interweaving  of  the  life  of  the  separate  parts  with 
that  of  the  whole  which  is  presented  to  our  view  by  the  animal 
organism,  depends  upon  the  same  principle  which  is  constantly 
becoming  more  and  more  predominant  in  our  present  political 
and  social  conditions,  namely,  the  principle  of  the  division  of 
labor.  We  find  that  this  principle  is  the  more  distinctly  devel- 
oped, and  that  the  activity  of  the  different  parts  is  the  more 
thoroughly  employed  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  organism,  the 
higher  we  ascend  in  the  animal  kingdom,  whilst,  on  the  con- 
trary, in  Plants  and  in  the  lowest  animals,  the  different  parts 
usually  possess  so  much  individuality  that  very  commonly  the 
whole  organism  may  be  divided  into  two  or  more  independent 
organisms  without  any  injury  to  life.  This  comparison  may 
furnish  us  with  the  best  possible  indication  of  the  direction  in 
which  our  political  development  must  ascend,  and  show  us  that 
the  object  of  the  political  organism  will  be  better  attained  the 
more  we  succeed  in  combining  a  high  degree  of  division  of 
labor,  and  the  greatest  possible  independence  of  the  individuals 
and  communities  forming  the  state,  with  the  co-operation  of  all 
for  the  welfare  and  existence  of  the  whole.* 

*  See  Appendix  No.  40. 


NATIONALITIES. 

PRECISELY  the  same  principle  which  we  have  found  to  be 
involved  in  the  natural  progress  of  the  mutual  relations 
of  individuals,  must  also  hereafter  become  the  guiding  principle 
in  the  intercourse  of  peoples  and  nations.  In  the  place  of  a 
mutually  destructive  struggle,  we  shall  have  a  competition  in  all 
useful  things,  and  a  more  or  less  general  endeavor  to  overcome 
the  obstacles  which  stand  in  the  way  of  human  happiness. 
Even  under  present  conditions  this  principle  has  already  be- 
come so  powerful  and  important,  that  our  existing  systems  of 
government,  which  in  their  nature  still  depend  entirely  upon 
the  old  principles  of  mutual  diplomatic  and  military  enmity  and 
suppression,  have  not  quite  succeeded  in  escaping  its  influence, 
and  in  modern  times  the  endeavors  of  the  individual  states  are 
unmistakably  directed  towards  putting  out  of  the  way  as  much 
as  possible  all  causes  of  warlike  complications,  and  cultivating 
instead  of  these  the  arts  of  peace  and  the  blessings  of  mutual 
good  understanding.  It  is  true  that  this  state  of  things  is  only 
a  provisional  one,  and  one  that  may  bs  upset  at  any  moment  by 
the  desire  of  fame  on  the  part  of  misguided  sovereigns  or  the 
combatativeness  of  the  enormous  armies  kept  on  foot  by  them. 
But  as  soon  as  we  have  left  this  stage  of  barbarism  behind  us, 
wars  between  different  nations  will  hardly  be  posssible,  as  every 
one  will  see  that  every  war  carried  on  by  one  state  against  its 
neighbor  is  at  the  same  time  a  war  against  itself  and  its  own 
dearest  interests.  Moreover,  all  sufficient  inducement  to  war 
will  be  wanting,  as  no  one  will  think  of  subjugating  or  destroy- 
ing a  justly  independent  people  or  nation  for  the  benefit  of 
another,  and  any  disputes  that  may  occur  will  easily  be  settled 
by  an  arbitration  of  nations  or  a  national  Areopagus. 

A  chief  difficulty  in  this  mutual  unification  of  peoples  will 
consist  in  the  definition  and  limitation  of  nationalities.     Im- 

(204) 


WHERE    ARE    WE   GOING?  205 

portant  as  are  the  arguments  that  may  be  urged  against  the 
strict  carrying  out  of  what  is  called  the  Principle  of  Nationality 
(which  at  present  forms  the  guiding  spring  of  all  political  pop- 
ular movements,)   it  is  and  must  be  the  only  principle  upon 
which   a   permanent   and  just  separation    of   nations   can   be 
effected.     Every  people  possessing  in  itself  so  much  vitality,  as 
to  have  developed  in  itself  a  language,  literature  and  history  of 
its  own,  and  which  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  mere  appendage  of 
a  larger  race  or  a  branch  from  such  a  race  incapable  of  inde- 
pendent life,  has  a  right  to  independent  existence  and  must  be 
protected  and  sustained  therein.     Doubtful  cases  and  disputes 
as  to  the  limitation  of  the  different  nationalities  at  those  points 
where  they  are  partially  intermixed,  will  have  to  be  submitted 
to  the  judgment  of  a  well-informed  and  impartial  national  tri- 
bunal, always  supposing  that  the  parties  interested  are  unable 
to  come  to  a  mutual  understanding.     And  this  at  all   events 
under  such   circumstances   as  are  to  be  anticipated,  will    not 
be    difficult,    as   in   this   case    there    will    be   no    question    of 
mutual   oppression    or  forcible   extirpation    of   national  pecu- 
liarities, but   the    only   purpose    in    view   will    be  the    attain- 
ment of  peaceable  cohabitation.     That  absurd  national  hatred 
of  former  times,  which  has  produced  so  much   mischief,  has 
already  really  disappeared  from  the  minds  of  the  larger  and 
more  powerful  civilized  nations,  to  make  room  for  a  mutual 
esteem  and  for  a  general  desire  for  peaceful  relations  or  peace- 
ful competition,  as  for  example,  between  the  Germans  and  the 
■French,  the  French  and  the  English,  the  Germans  and  the 
Italians,    &c.      No   doubt  this   sentiment  will   by   degrees   be 
diffused  throughout  the  masses  and  render  great  national  wars 
no  longer  possible.     The  immense  and  indeed  incalculable  gain 
that  national  well-being  will  derive  from  the  cessation  of  those 
enormous    and    exhaustive    military   preparations    which    the 
European  states  still  think  necessary  for  their  safety,  is  too  well 
known  and  generally  recognized  to  require  special  notice  here. 


SOCIETY. 

FAR  more  important  than  any  political  or  national  reforms, 
is  the  reformation  of  Society  in  the  diredlion  of  the  view 
of  civilizatory  progress  here  described  by  us.  For  of  what  use 
to  the  individual  are  political  liberties  or  the  satisfaction  of  his 
national  pride,  of  what  advantage  to  him  are  theories  of  national 
prosperity,  if  the  enjoyment  of  these  things  is  embittered  or 
rendered  impossible  to  him  by  social  oppression  ?  All  political 
progress  is  and  must  remain  a  chimera  so  long  as  society  feels 
itself  uneasy  and  uncomfortable  in  its  very  heart,  and  the  people 
will  not  attain  to  quietness  and  the  cheerful  enjoyment  of  their 
existence  until  political  liberation  has  found  its  necessary  com- 
plement in  social  freedom.  In  no  department  of  human  being 
has  the  struggle  for  existence  raged  more  violendy  or  left 
behind  it  deeper  traces  of  its  destructive  action,  than  in  the 
social  field,  since  it  passed  from  the  natural  to  the  intellectual 
field  of  action.  Unfortunately  by  daily  custom  and  constant 
familiarity  our  nerves  have  become  so  blunted  to  the  presence 
of  much  misery  that  we  seem  scarcely  any  longer  to  notice  the 
boundless  inequalities  and  injustices  which  have  been  the  con- 
sequences of  the  social  struggle  for  existence, — we  find  the 
whole  thing  just  as  natural  as  the  terrible  and  remorseless  na- 
ture-struggle itself  But  in  this  we  forget  the  immense  difference 
that  exists  between  the  natural  law,  which  admits  of  no  excep- 
tions and  usually  destroys  its  sacrifices  quickly  and  without 
their  ever  coming  to  a  consciousness  of  their  condition,  and  the 
conscious  struggle  of  man  which  is  carried  on  under  the  pres- 

(206) 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING?  207 

sure  of  regxilations  and  conditions  which,  being  human,  are  ca- 
pable of  improvement.  It  is  true  that  the  origin  of  these  regu- 
lations and  conditions  is  due  to  a  historical  development  which 
presents  a  great  similarity  to  the  course  of  natural  development, 
and  which  could  only  to  a  certain  extent  be  influenced  by  the 
arbitrary  action  of  man.  But  in  proportion  as  mankind  advance 
towards  the  height  which  they  are  destined  to  reach  ;  in  propor- 
tion as  they  find  themselves  more  and  more  in  a  position  to 
replace  the  rude  conditions  of  nature  by  free  and  rational  spon- 
taneity, the  more  must  the  question  press  itself  upon  them 
whether  the  state  of  inequality  and  injustice  which  we  see  extend- 
ing almost  without  bounds  through  human  society  is  necessary, 
or  more  or  less  accidental,  and  whether  we  are  in  a  posi- 
tion to  counteract  the  injurious  consequences  of  this  condition 
of  things  both  to  the  individual  and  to  the  community  by  the 
arrangements  of  society  itself 

We  have  just  seen  that  the  great  principles  of  liberty  and 
equality  are  the  determining  and  almost  undisputed  principles 
of  the  future  from  a  political  point  of  view,  and  we  can  by  no 
means  see  why  these  same  principles  should  not  also  be  recog- 
nized as  the  determining  principles  of  social  progress.  At  pres- 
ent, indeed,  there  are  very  few  men  who  see  the  necessity  of 
social  so  clearly  as  that  of  political  reform,  and  it  is,  in  fact, 
among  the  most  freethinking  of  politicians  that  we  frequenUy 
find  the  most  inveterate  enemies  of  the  endeavor  after  social 
improvement.  Nevertheless,  we  shall  hardly  find  any  one  to 
assert  that  oppression  and  plunder  are  not  as  bad  socially  as 
politically  ;  and  no  one  will  give  a  negative  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion whether  any  individual  man,  at  the  moment  of  his  birth, 
does  not  bring  with  him  into  the  world  an  equal  claim  upon  the 
entire  (material  and  intellectual)  property  of  humanity,  and  es- 
pecially of  his  people  or  nation.  On  the  other  hand,  no  one 
will  be  any  more  inclined  to  deny  that  in  reality  and  in  the  present 
state  of  society  this  claim  is  a  horrible  mockery.     For  one  is 


208  MAN    IN    THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

bom  with  the  crown  upon  his  head  ;  another  rolls  in  countless 
gold  even  in  his  cradle  ;  another  with  his  first  breath  may  call 
his  own  a  great  part  of  that  soil  upon  which  we  all  are  born,  and 
which  should  justly  be  the  common  property  of  us  all ;  and 
another,  before  he  begins  to  think,  is  destined  to  hold  rank, 
riches,  position,  consideration,  and  lordship  over  his  fellows  ; 
whilst  another  comes  naked  and  bare  into  the  world  like  the 
beasts,  and,  like  the  "Son  of  Man,"  hath  no  place  whereon  to 
lay  his  head.  The  earth  itself,  which  has  produced  him,  re- 
gards him  to  a  certain  extent  as  an  outcast,  or  as  coming  into 
the  field  too  late,  and  he  can  only  make  good  his  right  to  his 
miserable  existence  by  appropriating  the  forces  bestowed  upon 
him  by  nature  (whether  corporeal  or  intellectual)  to  the  service 
of  others.  But  even  under  this  condition  and  when  he  volun- 
tarily sacrifices  his  life  and  health  to  this  service,  society  usually 
prolongs  his  life  only  in  the  most  miserable  fashion,  and  leaves 
him,  in  the  midst  of  a  national  prosperity  never  before  realized, 
to  suffer  all  the  pangs  of  that  mythical  Tantalus  who  saw  all 
sorts  of  food  constantly  before  him,  but  which  he  could  never 
reach.  Boundless  poverty  side  by  side  with  boundless  riches  ; 
boundless  power  side  by  side  with  boundless  weakness  ;  bound- 
less happiness  side  by  side  with  boundless  misery  ;  boundless 
slavery  side  by  side  with  boundless  will  ;  boundless  excess  side 
by  side  with  boundless  want ;  fabulous  knowledge  side  by  side 
with  fabulous  ignorance  ;  the  most  strenuous  labor  side  by  side 
with  careless  enjoyment ;  beautiful  and  glorious  things  side  by 
side  with  the  deepest  depression  of  human  existence, — such  is 
the  character  of  our  existing  society,  which  in  the  magnitude  of 
these  contrasts  exceeds  even  the  worst  times  of  political  op- 
pression and  slavery.  Daily  we  are  forced  to  allow  the  most 
moving  tragedies,  arising  from  these  contrasts,  to  pass  before 
our  eyes  without  being  in  a  position  to  prevent  their  terrible 
recurrence, —  constantly  we  are  forced  to  confess  to  ourselves 
that  daily  and  hourly  men  perish  quickly  or  slowly  by  the  want 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING?  209 

of  the  merest  necessaries  of  life,  whilst  close  beside  them  the 
more  favorably  placed  section  of  society  is  swallowed  up  in 
excess  and  luxury,  and  the  national  welfare  improves  in  an  un- 
heard of  manner. 

When  we  wander  through  our  large  towns  or  great  industrial 
districts,  we  have,  at  almost  every  step,  the  opportunity  of 
observing  how  the  dens  of  want  and  misery  are  hidden  behind 
the  mansions  of  riches  and  happiness, — how  in  view  of  groan- 
ing tables  and  overloaded  stomachs,  hollow-eyed  hunger  may 
be  seen  bearing  its  pangs  in  silence, — and  how,  side  by  side 
with  luxury  and  arrogance  of  all  kinds,  hopeless  want  creeps 
shyly  and  anxiously  into  the  darkest  corners,  or  sits  in  gloomy 
despair  hatching  deeds  of  horror.  How  often  could  the  poor 
laborer  rescue  his  starving  children  from  the  most  terrible 
death  by  means  of  the  crumbs  which  fall  from  the  rich 
man's  table  and  which  even  his  dogs  disdain  !  and  what  the 
palled  palate  of  the  epicure  rejects  with  disgust,  would  be  a 
delicacy  for  him  who  eats  only  to  satisfy  his  hunger  !  Even 
intellectual  food  or  intellectual  enjoyment  is  so  unequally  dis- 
tributed that  often  the  smallest  portion  of  what  is  offered  to 
those  standing  in  good  positions  and  perhaps  rejected  by  them 
as  quite  contemptible,  might  suffice  to  make  the  happiness  of 
the  poor  but  longing  mind  or  to  guide  it  to  better  purposes. 
How  much  talent,  how  much  genius  may  slumber  in  the  masses 
who  can  never  attain  the  circle  of  action  suitable  to  them,  but 
are  constantly  yoked  to  the  plough  of  trivial  avocations, 
whilst  incapacity  and  weakness  spread  themselves  out  upon  the 
seats  of  power  and  learning.  How  much  hunger  (intellectual 
or  physical)  could  be  satisfied  without  any  trouble,  if  means 
and  cultivation  were  more  equally  distributed  !  How  satisfied 
might  every  one  be,  either  with  food  or  with  learning,  if  all 
were  active,  and  so  many  had  not  to  work  for  one  or  for 
a  few  !  * 

*  See  Appendix  No.  41. 


2IO  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

It  is,  as  we  have  said,  the  social  struggle  for  existence,  not 
yet  regulated  by  the  principles  of  reason  and  justice,  that  has 
gradually  called  forth  all  these  inequalities  and  monstrosities  of 
society.  In  this  it  has  been  most  essentially  supported  by 
those  innumerable  political  oppressions,  acts  of  violence,  rob- 
beries, conquests,  &c. ,  with  which  the  past  history  of  nations 
is  filled,  and  of  which  the  mournful  effects  are  still  regarded  by 
uninstructed  reason  as  the  necessary  consequences  of  social 
movement. 

Thus  the  present  state  of  society  and  the  distribution  of 
property  in  society  is  by  no  means,  as  many  think,  the  mere 
consequence  of  a  natural  development,  but  of  a  concatenation  of 
circumstances  and  causes,  among  which  the  legitimate  gain  and 
personal  industry  of  the  individual,  important  as  they  are,  play 
on  the  whole  only  a  secondary  part.  The  place  of  the  old  po- 
litical violence  has  been  taken  by  the  rage  of  social  oppression 
and  plunder,  which  recognizes  no  other  obje6l  than  that  of  be- 
coming rich  and  prosperous  as  quickly  as  possible  at  the 
expense  of  others,  and  for  the  attainment  of  this  purpose  leaves 
no  means  of  mutual  competition  or  overreaching  untried.  It  is 
a  matter  of  course  that  those  who  have  been  beaten  in  compe- 
tition, or  have  been  overreached,  endeavor  to  make  good  their 
loss  by  every  means  offered  to  them  by  cunning  or  power, 
although  owing  to  the  inequality  of  the  contest  they  usually 
meet  but  little  success  in  this.  Of  forbearance  or  pity  there  is 
no  more  in  this  social  war,  in  which  every  one's  hand  is  against 
his  neighbor  (at  least  as  far  as  it  is  carried  on  between  individ- 
uals,) than  in  the  rude  natural  struggle  already  described.  It 
is  as  it  were  a  general  flight  or  race  of  fear  before  the  troubles 
and  wants  of  life,  in  which  the  majority  in  their  flight  have 
scarcely  a  glance  of  pity,  let  alone  a  helping  hand,  to  bestow 
upon  those  who  are  sinking  to  the  ground  beside  them,  and 
strike  down  those  who  stand  in  their  way  without  hesitation. 
Unceasingly  the  stream  roars  onwards  over  those  unfortunates 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING?  211 

who  fall,  and  the  universal  war  cry  runs  as  follows  : — Save  him- 
self who  can  /  succumb  who  m.ust ! 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  state  of  things  must  bring 
with  it  the  greatest  disadvantages  to  the  nobler  impulses  and 
tendencies,  or  to  the  moral  nature  of  man,  and  that  it  must 
cause  a  boundless  egotism  to  be  the  main-spring  of  human 
affairs.  Every  deviation  from  the  prescriptions  laid  down  by 
social  egotism  avenges  itself  in  the  most  grievous  manner  upon 
the  individual,  and  compels  him,  if  he  will  not  be  untrue  to  the 
cogent  commands  of  the  principle  of  self-preservation,  immedi- 
ately to  return  into  the  beaten  track.  Even  the  most  devoted 
philanthropist  could  not  withdraw  himself  from  these  commands 
of  social  egotism,  unless  he  is  willing  to  find  himself  immedi- 
ately affected  by  the  greatest  personal  disadvantages.* 

There  will  not  be  many  men  who  will  venture  to  dispute  the 
above  propositions,  which  are  merely  derived  from  daily  ex- 
perience, or  to  deny  the  simple  principle  of  natural  justice,  that 
all  men  at  their  birth  bring  with  them  into  the  world  an  equal 
right  to  all  the  (material  or  intelledlual)  possessions  of  man- 
kind existing  at  that  moment.  But  after  admitting  these  and 
similar  truths,  they  will  immediately  add  with  a  compassionate 
shrug,  that  there  is  no  rational  or  available  means  of  improving 
this  state  of  things, —  that  there  have  always  been  riches  and 
poverty,  and  that  inequality  of  position  and  property,  differ- 
ences of  station,  culture  and  the  like,  are  necessary  and  indis- 
pensable attributes  of  human  society,  without  which  it  could 
not  subsist.  To  this  they  will  add  that  if  even  now,  in  dis- 
regard of  all  existing  rights  which  have  been  generally  well- 
acquired,  we  were  to  undertake  a  general  distribution  of  goods 
amongst  all  the  living,  the  old  inequality  would  very  soon 
return.  Lastly,  they  will  picture  in  the  liveliest  colors  the 
(real  and  imaginary)  dangers  of  communism,  and  then  show 
that  all  attempts  of  this  nature  have  failed  most  ignominiously 

*  See  Appendix  No.  42. 


212  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND   FUTURE. 

and  must  always  fail  on  account  of  the  weakness  and  in- 
sufficiency of  human  nature.  The  last  statement  certainly 
need  not  be  admitted,  and  to  the  former  ones  we  may  reply  as 
follows  :  That  the  existing  egotism  of  human  nature,  which 
rules  society,  is  principally  the  consequence  of  the  egotistical 
state  of  human  feeling  and  society,  which  has  prevailed  for 
many  thousand  years  and  hardened  in  the  constant  struggle 
for  existence,  and  that  a  better  guidance  and  education  of  the 
human  mind,  and  especially  of  the  spirit  of  Society  in  the 
dire<5lion  of  reciprocity  and  fraternity,  would  produce  astonish- 
ingly different  results.  Further,  that  all  the  communistic 
attempts  that  have  been  made  have  not  failed,  and  that,  where 
they  fell  through,  they  were  often  destroyed  rather  by  external 
than  by  internal  difficulties.*  And  finally  we  may  justly  call 
attention  to  the  fa6l  that  the  advantages  of  a  community  of 
goods  are  extraordinarily  great  both  economically  and  morally,t 
and  that  we  may  easily  imagine  a  state  of  Society  in  which 
without  any  danger  to  the  objects  of  Society  itself  or  to  the 
individuality  of  the  persons  composing  it,|  labor  would  acquire 
a  perfectly  unconstrained  and  spontaneous  character,  serving 
only  the  purposes  of  the  community.  But  although  all  this 
may  be  urged  against  the  opponents  of  communism,  yet  for 
the  present  and  for  a  long  time  to  come  there  is  so  little  chance 
of  any  practical  realization  of  such  ideas  or  propositions,  that 
all  further  reference  to  the  subject  seems  superfluous.  The 
general  and  quite  insuperable  aversion  of  men  to  all  kinds  of 
communistic  propositions  or  systems  is  opposed  to  it,  as  also 
the  still  actually  existing  weakness  and  insufficiency  of  human 
nature  itself,  which  can  only  be  conducted   to  and   rendered 

*  See  Appendix  No.  43.     t  See  Appendix  No.  44. 

J  "  Obliteration  of  individuality,"  is  the  watchword  that  our  philosophers  and 
political  economists  have  given  out  ag^ainst  communistic  systems  of  all  kinds, 
although  it  is  perfectly  unjust,  and  although  there  are  so  many  individualities 
whose  obliteration  would  really  be  of  no  consequence.  Moreover  our  present 
form  of  society,  I  think,  does  quite  enough  for  the  obliteration  of  individuality, 
and  for  the  production  of  a  general  personal  insignificance. 


WHERE  ARE   WE   GOING?  213 

capable  of  better  things  by  many  years'  education  in  the  spirit 
of  community  and  general  philanthropy. 

We  have  nothing  for  it,  therefore,  but  to  look  about  for 
some  other  means  which  may  serve,  at  least  to  some  extent, 
to  weaken  the  frightful  contrasts  and  monstrosities  of  the 
present  condition  of  society  and  thus  gradually  lead  to  a  better 
state  of  things.  Here  again  science,  and  especially  natural 
science  gives  the  right  clue.  For  if,  as  has  already  been 
shown,  the  true  task  of  humanity,  or  of  human  progress  in 
opposition  to  the  rude  natural  state,  consists  in  the  struggle 
against  the  struggle  for  existence,  or  in  the  replacement  of  tJie 
power  of  nature  by  the  power  of  reason,  it  is  clear  that  this  objedl 
must  above  all  be  attained  by  the  greatest  possible  equali- 
zation of  the  circumstances  and  means  under  which  and  with 
which  each  individual  has  to  fight  out  his  struggle  for  existence, 
and  to  carry  on  the  competition  for  the  preservation  of  his  life. 
Nature  knows  no  such  equalization,  or  admits  it  only  in  an 
exceedingly  imperfect  fashion,  and  the  weaker  or  less  favored 
party  saves  itself  in  Nature  rather  by  evasion  or  flight  from  the 
stronger  or  from  unfavorable  influences,  than  by  direct  opposi- 
tion. Even  in  man  this  was  formerly  the  case  to  a  great  extent, 
if  we  leave  out  of  consideration  the  immediate  natural  influences 
which  man  opposed  more  or  less  directly  by  the  aid  of  his 
power  of  refle6tion  and  knowledge.  But  just  as  he  has  suc- 
cessfully carried  on  this  contest  with  the  external  world  and 
still  continues  to  fight  it  out  vi6loriously,  he  must  also  fight  out 
the  much  more  difficult  internal  contest  against  his  own  animal 
nature,  and,  as  we  have  said,  put  the  law  of  reason  in  place  of 
the  law  of  nature.  If  in  politics  we  have  long  since  come  to 
replace  the  old  system  of  oppression  and  domination  by  the 
now  generally  recognized  principle  of  equal  rights  and  equal 
duties,  we  must  likewise  socially  replace  the  system  of  mutual 
plunder,  which  has  hitherto  prevailed,  by  the  principle  oi equal 
means  or  equal  circumstances.     What  sort  of  combat  would  it  be 


214  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

in  which  one  of  the  combatants  made  his  appearance  naked 
and  armed  with  a  wooden  sword,  whilst  the  other  advanced  to 
battle  cased  in  steel  from  head  to  foot,  and  with  sabres  and 
guns?  What  sort  of  race  would  it  be  in  which  one  of  the 
runners  had  to  trust  only  to  the  powers  of  his  naked  feet, 
whilst  the  other  had  the  aid  of  all  the  means  of  locomotion 
which  the  progress  of  the  arts  had  rendered  possible?  And 
what  sort  of  competition  for  existence  is  that  in  which  one 
party  appears  furnished  with  all  those  innumerable  advantages 
which  rank,  riches,  culture,  position,  &c.,  are  able  to  confer 
upon  him,  whilst  the  other  has  nothing  to  depend  upon  but 
the  force  of  his  naked  arms  or  of  his  uncultivated  understand- 
ing?—  force  which,  moreover,  has  probably  been  checked  in  its 
development  even  in  his  earliest  youth  by  bodily  or  spiritual 
destitution.  Such  a  state  of  things  cannot  really  deserve  the 
name  of  a  struggle  or  competition  for  existence,  as  its  issue  in 
by  far  the  greater  number  of  cases  is  decided  beforehand,  and  the 
whole  merely  represents  a  state  of  permanent  social  slavery 
sanctified  by  age,  and  inherited  from  generation  to  generation. 
Of  course  such  a  state  greatly  paralyzes  the  desire  to  struggle 
or  the  endeavor  for  personal  improvement  in  the  depressed 
portion  of  society,  as  any  one  from  whom  nearly  every  prospect 
of  success  or  victory  is  taken  will  find  no  particular  pleasure 
in  the  struggle,  but  will  only  think  how  he  may  scantily 
support  his  life,  destined  as  it  is  to  the  service  of  others.  For- 
tunately most  of  these  Pariah's  of  society,  whilst  possessing  no 
distinft  consciousness  of  their  position  or  knowledge  of  the 
causes  which  lead  to  it,  have  likewise  no  feeling  of  its  horrors. 
If  they  had  such  a  feeling  and  consciousness,  that  social  revolu- 
tion which  has  been  so  often  prophesied  and  which  is  so  much 
dreaded  by  the  proprietary  classes,  would  long  since  have 
become  a  fact.* 

It  must  indeed  be  admitted  that  a  complete  equalization  of 

*  See  Appendix  No.  45. 


WHERE    ARE   WE    GOING?  215 

the  means  with  which  each  individual  carries  on  his  struggle 
for  existence  can  scarcely  ever  become  a  matter  of  possibility  ; 
but  even  a  partial  equalization  would  be  attended  with  the 
most  beneficial  consequences  to  the  state  of  society  and  v.ould 
sharpen,  instead  of  weakening  the  desirable  spur  of  competition. 
For  when  it  is  assigned  to  everyone  to  enjoy  only  the  fruits  of 
his  own  industry  or  of  his  own  exertions,  and  not  to  loll  upon 
the  bed  of  idleness  while  the  fruits  of  the  industry  or  good 
fortune  of  others  are  poured  into  his  lap,  he  will  find  himself 
from  the  first  impelled,  in  the  interest  of  self-preservation,  to 
industry  and  adivity,  whilst  at  present  even  those  who  feel  in 
themselves  the  impulse  to  work  are  often  enough  condemned 
by  their  social  position  to  an  involuntary  inaclion.     Even  the 
natural  inequalities  of  society  and  the  necessary  difference  of 
occupations  in  society  will  not  suffer  under  such  an  equaliza- 
tion.    Birth,  family,  residence,  talents,  personal  desires,  bodily 
strength  or  weakness,  intellectual  advantages,  &c.,  superinduce 
a  multitude  of  differences   of  human  nature  which  are  quite 
incapable  of  equalization  by  external  means,  and  which  in  the 
further  course  of  each  individual  life  will  make  themselves  felt 
with  the  same  or  probably,  (when  the  external  means  of  exist- 
ence are  equalized,)  with  far  greater  force  than  hitherto. 

In  order  to  bring  about  the  desiderated  equalization  to  a 
certain  extent,  and  place  the  individual  in  a  position  in  which 
he  may  be  able  to  develop  his  natural  talents  satisfactorily,  and 
find  no  obstacles  to  applying  his  industry  and  his  faculties  in 
any  diredion  of  social  life,  far  greater  means  must  be  furnished 
to  the  community  or  the  state  than  has  hitherto  been  the  case. 
This  object  may  be  attained  in  part  by  giving  up  the  so-called 
ground-rents,  (especially  that  which  arises  from  simple  increase 
of  the  population,)  or  by  bringing  back  the  property  in  land 
and  soil,  which  of  right  belongs  to  all  in  common,  out  of  the 
possession  of  private  individuals  into  that  of  the  community,* 

*  See  Appendix  No.  46. 


2l6  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

and  in  part  by  a  perfe6lly  feasible  and  gradually  increasing  limita- 
tion in  favor  of  the  community  of  the  right  of  leaving  private 
property  to  descendants.*  These  proposals  have  nothing  to  do 
with  communism,  although  to  many  they  may  at  the  first 
glance  appear  to  be  connected  with  it,  as  nothing  is  contained 
in  them  which  is  in  contradi6lion  to  the  principle  of  private 
property  as  such,  or  which  could  hinder  the  individual  from 
enjoying  or  employing  in  the  fullest  degree  the  produce  of  his 
own  industry  and  endeavors.  The  care  of  his  descendants  also 
would  not  be  taken  from  him  so  long  as  no  complete  abolition 
of  the  right  of  mheritance  is  proposed  ;  but  this  care  will  weigh 
upon  him  with  infinitely  less  pressure  than  hitherto,  as  the 
community  would  under  all  circumstances  take  charge  of  the 
education  and  culture  of  children  until  they  attained  an  age  to 
earn  their  own  living,  and  must  always  take  charge  of  those 
descendants  who  are  incapable  of  earning  anything,  whenever 
these  were  not  sufficiently  provided  for  by  private  means. f 
But  the  consciousness  that  the  individual  by  his  industry  is 
working  and  caring  not  merely  for  himself  and  for  his  heirs, 
(who  are  often  very  undeserving  or  who  do  not  require  his 
aid,)  but  also  for  the  community  at  large,  would  a6l  most 
beneficially  in  opposition  to  those  egotistical  impulses  or  tend- 
encies which,  as  we  have  seen,  at  present  unfortunately  con- 
stitute the  mainspring  of  all  social  activity,  and  have  as  their 
consequence  a  fundamental  corruption  of  the  social  nature  of 
man.  The  individual  will  also  perceive  that,  whilst  he  works 
and  cares  for  the  community,  he  is  doing  the  same  for  himself 
and  his  household,  inasmuch  as  all  are  merely  individual  con- 
stituents of  the  whole,  and  must  prosper  as  the  community 
prospers.  The  so-called  Manchester  men,  who  see  in  govern- 
ment only  a  sort  of  police  establishment  for  the  security  of  life 
and  property,  will  not  find  this  easily  intelligible  ;  they  wish  to 
know  as  little  as  possible  of  government  and  only  require  that 

*See  Appendix  No.  47.  tSee  Appendix  No.  48. 


WHERE    ARE   WE   GOING?  217 

social  murder  and  slavery  should  go  on  with  as  little  hindrance 
as  possible   under  its  protection.      In    this,   indeed,   they  are 
strongly  supported  by  a  reference  to  our  present  conditions  of 
state,  which  really  make  all  governmental  interference  in  private 
and  social  relations  appear  most  undesirable,  and  represent  only 
a  political  plundering  of  the  entire  body  of  the  people  on  a 
large  scale  by  a  dominant  minority.     A  very  different  thing 
from  this  government  of  force,  which  must  be  regarded  as  a 
remnant  of  the  middle  ages,  is  the  true  popular  goveryiment,  in 
which  the  community  is  only  the  expression  of  all,  and  in  which 
all  are  only  the  expression  of  the  community.     Such  a  state  as 
this  really  resembles  an  organism,  in  which  all  the  juices  flow 
constantly  and  in  uninterrupted  streams  from  the  circumference 
to  the  centre,  to  flow  back  again  immediately  from  the  centre 
to  the  different  parts,  and  furnish  them  with  strength  and  health. 
In  this  uninterrrupted  ebb  and  flow,   in  this  ceaseless  inter- 
change of  juices  between  the  individual  parts  and  the  great 
central  points,  lies  the  best  guarantee  of  health,  whilst  every 
interruption  of  this  movement,  every  stoppage  or  accumula- 
tion of  the  blood  in  the  different  parts  has  illness  or  discomfort 
as  its  consequence.     Just  so  is  it  also  in  the  body  of  the  state, 
which   must  be  less   comfortable  in  proportion  as  the  inter- 
change between  the  whole  and  the  individual  parts  is  less,  and 
as  property  and  riches  accumulate  in  an  unnatural  manner  at 
particular  parts  of  the  periphery  and  fix  themselves  there  with- 
out any  free  circulation  with  the  general  body.      Hence  the 
enormous  private  fortunes  which  have  been  gradually  accumu- 
lated, chiefly  in  consequence  of  inheritance  and  marriage,  in 
the  hands  of  individuals  or  families,  and  the  employment  of 
which  is  left  entirely  to  the  will  of  individuals,  cause  just  the 
same  danger  to  the  community  or  to  the  state  as  the  excessive 
possession  of  land  by  private  individuals.     By  the  immense 
influence   which   property   and  riches   have   acquired   in   our 
present  social  and  political  condition,  these  fortunes  have  arrived 


2l8  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

at  the  formation  of  a  state  in  the  state,  and,  in  time  to  come,  and 
in  proportion  as  the  theory  of  the  Manchester  men  makes  way, 
they  will  do  this  still  more,  and  finally  things  will  come  to  such 
a  pass  that  no  regular  government  can  any  longer  exist. 
Money  or  the  god  Mammon  will  in  the  end  remain  the  sole 
ruler  of  states,  and  we  even  now  use  a  very  characteristic  ex- 
pression when  we  call  the  millionaires,  "  Money  princes,"  as  if 
to  intimate  that  in  their  hands  property  and  riches  are  combined 
with  exorbitant  political  influence. 

The  measures  proposed  by  us  will  of  course  operate  most 
effectually  against  this  unnatural  accumulation  of  such  large 
private  fortunes  as  are  injurious  to  the  community, — they  will 
constantly  carry  back  the  national  riches  from  the  hands  of 
individuals  to  the  place  where  they  naturally  and  justly  belong, 
namely,  the  lap  of  the  nation  itself.  Like  a  beneficent  rain  they 
will  there  distribute  themselves  among  the  individual  members, 
and  awaken  life  and  health  where  before  there  was  only  desola- 
tion and  misery.  In  this  way,  without  the  detested  com- 
munistic division  and  without  any  infringement  of  private 
interests,  a  certain  amount  of  division  will  be  taking  place 
continually  and  at  every  moment,  and  a  constant,  normal  and 
legitimate  equalization  between  the  whole  and  the  parts,  as 
also  between  the  parts  themselves,  will  be  established. 

A  method  which  accomplishes  so  much  and  yet  affects  or 
injures  no  one  in  his  personal  rights,  should  not  be  rejected 
without  consideration,  (as  it  probably  will  be  by  many  who  read 
these  lines,)  but  should  be  carefully  examined  so  that  an 
impartial  and  unprejudiced  opinion  may  be  formed  upon  it. 
Even  those  practical  scruples  or  doubts  as  to  the  possibility  of 
carrying  it  out,  which,  as  in  the  case  of  everything  new,  will 
here  make  themselves  felt  with  great  energy,  may  all  be  re- 
moved without  much  difficulty,  as  a  little  consideration  will 
make  plain  to  any  one  who  desires  to  arrive  at  a  clear  judg- 
ment on  the  subject.      It  will   not  be  difficult   by  legislative 


WHKRE   ARE    WE    GOING  ?  219 

processes  to  prevent  unlimited  donations  in  case  of  death,  and 
to  render  fraudulent  evasions  of  the  law  impossible.  The 
limitation  of  the  power  of  bequest  also  will  not,  as  many  think, 
excessively  injure  the  impulse  to  acquisition  among  individuals. 
Innumerable  examples  prove  that  the  desire  of  acquiring  prop- 
erty is  not  in  the  least  altered  or  affected  by  the  want  of  dire6l 
or  needy  heirs  of  the  body ;  and  if  here  and  there  an  individual 
should  be  induced  by  the  want  of  dired  inheritors  to  spend 
more  upon  himself  or  upon  others  than  he  would  otherwise 
have  done,  we  can  find  no  injury  to  the  community  in  this. 
On  the  contrary,  a  counterpoise  to  that  avaricious  and  useless 
spirit  of  hoarding,  which  at  present  rules  the  minds  of  most  men 
of  property,  would  be  of  the  greatest  service,  and  at  any  rate 
useful  and  necessary  expenditure  of  the  moment  would  no 
longer  be  limited  to  the  same  extent  as  hitherto  from  con- 
siderations of  the  future  and  to  the  injury  of  the  present.  The 
thirst  for  money  and  riches  has  the  peculiarity  that  it  is  not, 
like  any  other  thirst,  stopped  by  being  satisfied,  but  in  general 
increases  in  the  same  proportion  that  food  is  offered  to  it. 
Every  rich  man  is  inspired  by  the  wish  to  become  still  richer 
in  order  that  he  may  rival  or  excel  those  who  already  exceed 
him  in  riches  and  in  external  display, —  and  the  cases  are  com- 
paratively rare  in  which  great  private  wealth  is  employed  in 
carrying  out  generally  useful  plans  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
common  weal,  arrangements  for  the  assistance  of  struggling 
talent,  and  so  forth. 

It  is  clear  that  in  this  way  only  tendencies  and  impulses 
are  cultivated  which  are  useless  or  injurious  to  the  common 
weal,  such  as  avarice,  jealousy,  envy,  ostentation,  dishonesty, 
&c.,  whilst  philanthropy,  furtherance  of  the  common  weal, 
the  support  of  suffering  or  needy  people,  sacrifices  for  great 
purposes,  furthering  the  well-being  of  man  in  material  or 
intellectual  matters,  &c.,  must  stand  behind  these  egotistical 
motives  or  tendencies. 


220  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

This  entire  condition  of  things  must,  however,  be  reversed 
as  soon  as  the  individual  is  brought  by  the  arrangements  of 
society  itself,  into  a  different  and  more  intimate  connection  with 
it,  and  with  the  community  in  general.  The  tendency  to 
employ  his  wealth  not  merely  for  himself  but  for  purposes  of 
pubHc  utility  will  increase  to  an  unexpected  extent,  and  in  place 
of  that  absurd  desire  of  personal  ostentation  which  prevails  at 
present  among  nearly  all  wealthy  people  and  impels  them  to 
lavish  unhesitatingly  uncounted  sums  upon  the  gratification  of 
the  smallest  and  pettiest  personal  desires  and  vanities,  whilst 
an  equally  petty  avarice  prevails  in  opposition  to  all  non-ego- 
tistical objects,  we  shall  have  love  of  the  community,  assistance 
to  others,  furtherance  of  great  and  general  purposes,  &c.  But 
even  should  this  action  upon  the  spirit  of  individuals  and  this 
improvement  of  human  nature  be  wanting,  the  state  or  the 
community  will  take  that  care  upon  itself,  and  employ  the 
wealth  constantly  flowing  to  it  from  the  private  property  of  the 
dead,  not  only  for  the  advancement  of  the  common  weal,  but 
also  for  the  furtherance  of  all  general  objects  beneficial  to 
mankind  as  such,  and  to  its  advancement.  Thus,  while  at 
present  the  wealth  of  the  nation  is  to  a  certain  extent  held  in 
private  hands  and  is  in  general  employed  in  a  manner  either  use- 
less or  positively  injurious  to  the  community,  the  very  opposite 
must  then  be  the  case  to  the  blessing  of  all.  All  this  necessarily 
leads  to  the  question  of  capital,  which  has  become  so  important 
and  been  so  often  discussed  in  our  day,  and  upon  which,  un- 
fortunately, infinite  obscurity  still  prevails  in  most  minds. 


CAPITAL. 

CAPITAL,  in  the  most  general  sense,  is  another  denomina- 
tion for  work  already  done  and  completed,  or,  more 
corre6lly  expressed,  it  is  the  colle6led  and  stored  up  bodily  and 
intellectual  work  of  our  ancestors  and  contemporaries,  con- 
verted into  possessions  or  useful  property  of  all  kinds,*  (such 
as  money,  arable  lands,  houses,  goods,  means  of  transport, 
tools,  knowledge,  &c.) 

From  this  definition  it  appears  at  once  how  brainless  and 
senseless  is  the  cry  against  capital  as  such  which  is  now  the 
fashion  among  the  working  classes.  The  battle-cry  of  the 
workman  should  not  be  :  Down  with  capital !  but :  Long  live 
capital !  Were  we  in  a  position  at  present  with  a  single  blow 
to  cause  all  capital  to  disappear  from  the  world,  we  should 
voluntarily  throw  ourselves  back  into  that  rude  and  miserable 
state,  in  which  our  earliest  ancestors  led  their  half-animal  lives 
in  a  most  imperfect  manner,  as  indeed  the  progress  of  civiliza- 
tion consists  chiefly  in  the  gradual  accumulation  of  those  in- 
numerable appliances  and  knowledges  by  which  alone  a  civilized 
life,  freed  from  the  rude  bonds  of  the  force  of  nature,  is  rendered 

*  Many  define  capital  as  the  excess  of  the  produce  of  labor  over  its  wages,  or  as 
the  increased  value  of  the  work  perfomed  by  the  capitalistic  method  of  produc- 
tion, which  the  capitalist  or  speculator  puts  in  his  pocket.  It  is  clear  that  this  is 
no  definition  nor  even  an  explanation  of  the  mode  of  origin  of  capital,  but  only 
an  expression  of  one  of  those  multifarious  processes  by  which  capital  accumulates 
in  individual  hands.  By  such  definitions  nothing  is  explained,  but  only  an  unnec- 
essary agitation  is  produced.  Even  F.  A.  Lange  {Die  Arbeiter/rage,  &'c.)  gives 
no  explanation  of  the  mode  of  origin  of  capital,  but  only  explains  the  causes  or 
oneoi  the  causes  of  its  unfair  distribution,  when  he  says  that  capital  on  the  whole 
originates  in  part  directly  and  in  part  indirectly  from  the  lordly  possessions  and 
the  privileges  of  the  feudal  ages. 

(221- 


222  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

possible.  The  greater,  the  more  extensive  and  the  more 
valuable  that  enormous  treasure  of  physical  and  intellectual 
property  which  mankind  accumulates  in  its  gradual  course  of 
development,  and  bequeaths  onwards  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion, the  more  does  it  approach  the  fulfillment  of  its  true  destiny, 
and  the  greater  will  also  be  the  general  proportion  of  its  happi- 
ness. The  evil  of  which  we  have  to  complain  is  not  due  to  the 
fa6l  that  this  treasure  or  capital,  (in  the  widest  sense,)  exists  at 
all,  but  to  the  circumstance  that  it  is  not  in  the  same  measure  or 
ill  the  same  vianner  at  the  command  of  every  individual.  If  all 
had  capital,  no  one  would  have  occasion  to  complain  of  it,  but 
in  all  probability  every  one  would  tell  of  its  advantageous 
effedls.  It  is  only  the  interest  on  capital  that  converts  capital 
into  that  detested  instrument  of  the  rich  against  the  poor,  by 
which  the  former  are  always  sure  that,  without  any  exertions 
of  their  own,  the  labor  of  others  will  always  be  performed  for 
them  and  for  their  support. 

Thus  if  we  examine  the  affair  to  the  bottom,  it  is  clear  that 
the  whole  misconception  which  attaches  to  the  so-called  power 
of  capital  has  its  foundation  not  in  the  existence  of  capital  as 
such,  but  solely  in  its  unequal  distribution,  which  contradicts 
the  principles  not  only  of  justice,  but  also  those  of  sound 
national  economy.  All  the  reproaches  and  curses  that  have 
been  cast  upon  capital  seem  to  be  unjust  so  long  as  we  speak 
of  capital  in  itself,  and  probably  become  more  or  less  just  when 
we  substitute  for  it  the  expression,  "private  capital."  In  fact 
we  can  by  no  means  see  whv  the  labor  of  the  past  and  of  the 
community  in  the  present  should  benefit,  not  the  community, 
but  only  individuals,  and  why  what  belongs  to  mankind  is 
withheld  by  individual  interests.  Even  without  considering 
what  has  been  left  us  by  our  ancestors  and  the  universal  right 
of  all  in  the  soil,  the  enormous  increase  of  value  which  all  exist- 
ing property  experiences  by  the  simple  increase  of  population, 
by  the  increase  of  credit,  and  by  the  rise  of  all  industrial,  mer- 


WHERE    ARE    WE    GOING?  223 

cantile  and  other  conditions,  is  so  much  the  direct  consequence 
of  the  common  activity  of  all,  that  it  must  appear  to  be  the 
greatest  injustice  that  the  chief  benefit  of  this  increase  of  value 
accrues  almost  exclusively  to  individual  persons  who  are  acci- 
dentally in  possession  of  this  or  that  property,  and  who  perhaps 
have  contributed  least  of  all  by  their  own  activity  to  bring  about 
the  result.  No  one  will  be  inclined  to  assert  that  those  in 
whose  hands  capital  or  the  results  of  the  industry,  the  skill,  the 
thought  and  the  exertions  of  the  generations  which  lived  before 
us  and  of  those  still  living,  is  now  chiefly  to  be  found,  have 
earned  it  by  their  own  activity  and  industry,  or  that  the  poverty 
and  want  of  property  of  the  lower  and  working  classes  are  the 
consequences  of  misfortunes  which  they  have  brought  upon 
themselves.  There  is  therefore  no  other  means  to  level  these 
irregularities  so  as  to  satisfy  justice  and  the  needs  of  national 
economy,  except  the  partly  permanent  and  partly  temporary  re- 
storation of  capital, — the  wealth  of  the  people, — the  property 
of  mankind, — to  the  hands  of  those  to  whom  they  naturally  and 
justly  belong,  namely,  into  the  possession  of  the  community  or 
of  mankind  as  such. 

Whilst  these  goods  then  stand  once  more  at  the  disposal  of 
the  individual  so  far  as  he  requires  them  for  the  development  and 
utilization  of  his  powers,  they  make  him  independent  of  the 
dominion  of  private  capital  and  enable  him,  without  sacrificing 
his  powers  in  the  service  of  others,  to  serve  both  himself  and 
the  community  or  humanity  at  large  by  his  activity.  But  the 
former  power  of  private  capital  itself  will  lose  almost  all  its 
importance  in  the  presence  of  the  enormous  concentration  of 
the  wealth  of  the  people  in  the  hands  of  the  state  or  of  the 
community,  and  the  diminution  or  perhaps  total  cessation  of 
the  interest  accruing  front  it  under  competition  with  the  capital 
of  the  state,  will  render  it  impossible  for  idlers  any  longer  to  live 
without  exertions  or  deserts  of  their  own  at  the  cost  of  the 
community  or  of  others.     The  chief  benefit  will  however  con- 


224  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

sist  in  the  fa6l  that  the  wealth  of  the  nation  will  be  taken  from 
under  the  influence  of  the  arbitrary  will,  the  stupidity,  the 
malevolence,  or  the  avarice  of  private  individuals,  and  "will  no 
longer  be  applied  to  unproductive  or  even  injurious  purposes, 
but  solely  to  the  benefit  and  welfare  of  all.  The  boundless  and 
most  pernicious  rage  of  speculation  will  come  to  an  end,  and  in 
place  of  incalculable  national  debts  we  shall  have  an  inexhausti- 
ble national  wealth.  Even  the  private  individual  who  has 
worked  so  long  and  successfully  as  to  be  able  to  take  his  ease, 
as  the  phrase  goes,  will  probably  in  most  cases  prefer  to  hand 
over  the  wealth  acquired  by  him,  in  whole  or  in  part,  to  the 
community  and  in  return  for  it  to  stipulate  for  a  corresponding 
maintenance  for  life.  Lastly,  one  part  of  what  we  now  de- 
nominate capital  and  the  part  to  which  the  disagreeable  acces- 
sory notion  of  capital  principally  clings,  namely,  money,  will 
scarcely  be  necessary  to  the  state,  as  it  will  probably  in  most 
cases  be  possible  to  attain  all  the  purposes  of  society  by  organi- 
zation and  mutual  equalization  of  work. 


LABOR  AND  LABORERS. 

ONE  of  the  greatest  follies  which  the  present  age  has  com- 
mitted and  is  still  committing  is  the  creation  of  a  special 
laborer's  question  and  its  separation  from  the  great  or  general 
social  questions.     In  this  case,  also,  as  in  the  question  of  capi- 
tal, the  root  of  the  matter  does  not  lie  in  work  itself  but  only  in 
its  unjust  distribution.      Fundamentally,  all  men  are  laborers 
with  the  exception  of  the  comparatively  few  who  live  upon  the 
stored  up  fat  of  their  predecessors,  or  upon  the  labor  of  others  ; 
and  if  work,  as  is  certainly  the  case,  is  very  differently  paid  for, 
this  generallv  stands  in  a  not  unjustifiable  relation  to  the  kind 
and  difficulty  of  the  work,  and  to  the  dangers  and  expenses 
connected  with  its  acquisition  or  performance.     It  is  therefore 
only  an  unnatural  revivification  of  that  class-opposition,  which 
is  in  opposition  to  all  the  principles  of  modern  times,  to  place 
the  laborer />^r  excellence  (that  is  to  say  the  industrial  or  factory 
workman)  in  contradistinction  to  all  the  other  classes  of  society, 
as  Lassalle  has  done,  and  to  require  for  him  special  privileges 
within  a  society  which  has  elevated  political  equality  into  its 
leading  principle.     Labor  is  depressed,  not  the  laborer  as  such. 
If  we  recognize  as  just  the  principles  upon  which  existing  soci- 
ety is  built  up,  we  must  also  accept  all  their  consequences,  and 
not  make  it  a  ground  of  complaint  that  the  inexorable  struggle 
for  existence  gives  unequal  results,  when  the  means  with  which 
it  has   to  be  fought  are  themselves  unequal.     The   ignorant 
workman  excited  by  all  sorts  of  demonstrations  has  now-a-days 
accustomed  himself  to  regard  his  master  as  the  real  cause  of  his 

(226) 


226  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

miseries  and  wrongs,  but  this  is  just  as  unwise  or  foolish  as  for 
him  to  regard  capital  in  itself  as  his  enemy.  Without  capital 
and  without  a  master  he  might  at  any  moment  die  of  hunger, 
and  as  a  7vork-taker  he  is  very  often  in  a  comparatively  much 
more  favorable  position  than  his  work-giver,  who  on  his  part, 
if  he  is  not  himself  a  capitalist,  depends  upon  other  capitalists, 
and  in  general  has  to  struggle  with  a  multitude  of  galling  cares 
and  dangers  of  which  his  workmen  have  no  conception.  The 
workman,  all  whose  aspirations  are  directed  merely  to  the 
increase  of  the  wages  paid  to  him,  does  not  consider  that  the 
work -giver,  however  rich  or  prosperous  he  may  be,  does  not 
pay  him  out  of  his  own  pocket,  but  only  out  of  the  pockets  of 
the  public,  and  that  this  as  well  as  the  competition  which  hems 
him  in  on  every  side,  lay  upon  him  certain  limits  which  he 
cannot  overstep  without  bringing  himself  to  ruin.  The  existing 
relations  between  work-givers  and  work-takers  or  the  so-called 
capitalistic  mode  of  production  is  only  a  necessary  and  inev- 
itable result  of  our  given  social  relations,  and  those  who,  whilst 
acknowledging  these  relations,  declaim  against  this  mode  of 
production  and  its  consequences,  which  are  certainly  often  very 
grievous,*  act  in  just  as  wise  a  manner  as  a  surgeon  who 
should  take  a  symptom  or  external  manifestation  of  a  disease 
for  the  disease  itself  Moreover  the  reproaches  cast  upon  the 
capitalistic  mode  of  production  and  the  so-called  wages-system 
generally  apply  only  to  very  large  industrial  undertakings  and 
to  those  trades  in  which  only  working  hands  and  capital  are 

*  "The  capitalistic  mode  of  production,"  says  J.  G.  Eccarius,  (Eines  Arbeiters 
Wider legung der  national-bkonomischen  Lehren,}.  S.  Mill,  Berlin,  1869,)  "  is  under 
the  most  favorable  circumstances  a  social  war  without  interruption.  The  im- 
provement of  the  machinery  of  production  goes  about  like  a  roaring  Lion  and 
seeks  whom  it  may  devour.  It  is  a  barbarous  war, —  the  artillery  and  the  victories 
are  all  on  one  side,  the  killed  and  wounded  on  the  other.  It  is  an  abominable  and 
contemptible  war  produced  by  avarice, —  undisguised  avarice, -— which  is  the  more 
hateful  because  the  accumulation  of  wealth  for  wealth's  sake  is  represented  as  an 
ennobling  principle,  and  proclaimed  by  its  worshippers  a  divine  ordinance  or  an 
eternal  law  of  nature  bringing  health  to  humanity.  Those  who  perish  in  this 
struggle  have  not  even  the  comfort  of  dying  for  a  good  or  glorious  cause, —  they 
are  inspired  by  no  fanaticism,  by  no  illusion.  They  are  mere  sacrifices  to  Plutus, 
who  are  acquainted  with  their  fate  and  see  their  destruction  before  them  at  every 
sterp." 


WHERE    ARE    WE    GOING?  227 

employed,  whilst  wherever  a  business  or  a  factory  depends 
upon  the  creative  activity,  the  inventive  genius,  the  industry  or 
any  other  special  faculty  of  its  undertaker,  or  even  upon  the 
particular  goodness  of  its  whole  organization,  the  increased 
gain,  falsely  called  the  premium  on  capital  of  the  undertaker  or 
organizer,  is  very  well  earned.^ 

In  order  to  get  rid  of  the  wages-system  and  give  the  work- 
man the  actual  produce  of  his  labor  instead  of  the  mere  wages, 
Lassalle  and  his  adherents  have,  as  is  well  known,  proposed  the 
establishment  of  productive  associations  as  they  are  called,  that 
is  to  say,  independent  associations  of  workmen  for  productive 
purposes,  and  this  by  the  aid  of  state  credit  or  by  the  help  of 
the  state.  This  proposition  is  subject  to  a  considerable  number 
of  both  external  and  internal  difficulties  which  render  its  being 
carried  out  under  existing  circumstances  exceedingly  question- 
able.    But  even  if  this  were  not  the  case,  and  if  we  could  suc- 

*  In  an  essay  on  the  premium  on  capital  in  his  Pioneer,  Karl  Heinzen  ex- 
presses himself  upon  this  point  very  well  as  follows : 

"  But  what  measure  shall  be  applied  when  the  works  necessary  for  carrying  on 
a  business  are  of  completely  different  kinds  and  the  capitalist  is  not  merely  its 
undertaker  but  also,  by  special  qualification,  its  creator  and  maintainer  ?  It  is 
true  that  without  the  aid  of  the  workmen  the  business  can  no  more  exist  than 
without  capital;  but  shall  the  capitalist  have  no  preference  over  those  who  help 
him  in  his  business  ?  shall  they  have  an  equal  claim  with  him  to  profit  ?  shall  the 
greater  share  which  he  appropriates  to  himself  be  regarded  as  an  objectionable 
'premium  on  capital,' when  he  alone  is  the  soul  of  the  business,  when  it  only 
exists  by  his  creative  activity,  when  its  nature  requires  special  faculties  which  he 
alone  possesses,  and  perhaps  he  only  attained  them  by  the  greatest  sacrifices  .> 

"Even  in  the  most  everyday  business  we  are  perplexed  by  the  question  of  the 
right  mode  of  division.  Take  a  merchant's  business: — To  carry  it  on  we 
require,  besides  the  undertaking  capitalist,  book-keeper,  clerks,  messengers, 
carters,  servants,  &c.  Shall  all  these  assistants  have  an  equal  right  to  the  profits 
with  the  capitalist  ?  Shall  his  right  to  a  greater  share  be  disputed  as  'premium 
on  capital  ?' 

"Let  us  take  another  example.  An  author  who  possesses  the  necessary 
capital  sets  up  a  newspaper.  Notwithstanding  his  intellectual  and  pecuniary 
capital,  he  is  unable  to  bring  it  out  without  the  assistance  of  a  book-keeper,  a 
manager,  a  set  of  printers  and  even  a  printer's  devil.  The  Journal,  however, 
prospers  by  the  industry  and  talent  of  its  founder,  and  by  this  talent  and  industry 
alone.  His  capital  would  ise  less  powerful  without  his  talent,  than  his  talent 
without  his  capital.  Now  does  justice  require  that  he  should  divide  the  whole 
profit  of  his  undertaking  with  his  assistant  workers  down  even  to  the  printer's 
devil  ?  Does  he  not  do  enough  if  he  pays  each  of  them  the  highest  price  for  his 
work,  which  cannot  by  any  means  be  brought  into  the  same  category  with  his 
own  ?  Is  he  to  be  condemned  as  a  capitalist  if  he  estimates  the  product  of  his 
activity  which  decides  the  prosperity  and  even  the  very  existence  of  the  business, 
at  a  higher  value  than  that  of  his  workmen  ?  " 


228  MAN   IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

ceed  by  means  of  the  universal  suffrage  advocated  by  Lassalle, 
in  securing  the  acceptance  and  cooperation  of  the  state  for  his 
proposals  (which,  however,  is  very  improbable  without  some 
previous  social  reforms),  it  would  very  soon  appear  that  these 
state-factories  would  be  by  no  means  in  a  position  to  attain  the 
object  expected  from  them,  namely,  the  liberation  of  the 
workman  from  his  depressed  social  position,  or  would  attain  it 
in  a  very  imperfect  degree.  For  in  the  first  place  the  average 
net  profit  of  a  particular  factory  or  business,  which  may  cer- 
tainly appear  very  large  in  the  hands  of  an  individual,  is  com- 
paratively very  small  as  soon  as  it  comes  to  be  divided  among 
all  the  partakers  and  co-laborers  in  the  business  or  among  a 
great  number,  and  in  times  of  crisis,  of  want  of  business  or  of 
greatly  increased  competition  it  may  even  fall  far  below  the 
level  of  what  is  generally  paid  to  the  individual  workman  as 
wages. 

In  the  second  place  the  factories  guaranteed  by  the  state, 
(assuming  their  pra6ficability  and  greater  profit  to  be  perma- 
nent,) will  still  benefit  only  a  part  and  probably  a  comparatively 
small  part  of  the  working  population,  as  no  one  will  be  inclined 
to  assert  that  all  the  occupations  of  daily  life  could  be  carried 
on  by  means  of  such  organized  factories  or  associations,  (in 
which,  moreover,  the  want  of  unity  between  the  individual 
partakers  would  form  an  essential  stumbling-block.)  Consider 
for  example  the  very  large  class  of  domestic  servants  and  many 
other  branches  of  human  adlivity  ! 

Thus  even  if  we  presuppose  the  establishment  and  the  antici- 
pated result  of  such  associations  established  by  the  aid  of  the 
state,  there  will  always  remain  a  great  residue  of  workers  not 
engaged  in  these  associations.  The  necessary  consequence 
of  this  is  the  formation  of  an  aristocracy  of  laborers  and  of  a 
fifth  state  besides  the  existing  four.  Within  this  fifth  state  and 
among  these  true  proletaires  the  whole  movement  will  then 
begin  again  from  the  commencement,  and  indeed  more  violent- 


WHERE  ARE   WE   GOING?  229 

ly,  threateningly  and  bitterly  than  before,  as  the  hatred  of  the 
poor  will  be  excited  against  their  better  situated  or  more 
favored  confreres  not  merely  on  account  of  their  social  infe- 
riority, but  also  on  account  of  their  political  inferiority. 

Not  only  this  physical  but  also  the  intelledlual  proletariate, 
and  indeed  every  other  class  of  society,  will  immediately  lay 
claim  to  the  assistance  of  the  state,  and  with  the  same  right  as 
the  industrial  or  factory  workmen,  and  it  can  no  more  be 
denied  to  them  than  to  the  latter.  And  at  last  where  is  the  state, 
great  as  its  credit  may  still  be,  to  obtain  all  the  means  to  satisfy 
such  numerous  claims?  It  is  true  that  state-aid  in  itself  and  as 
a  principle  is  by  no  means  so  objectionable  as  Lassalle's  oppo- 
nents assert,  and  the  arguments  against  it,  which  it  has  been 
attempted  to  derive  from  the  accepted  nature  of  the  state,  are 
entirely  untenable.*  But  without  a  previous  reformation  of  the 
law  of  property,  and  without  the  state  being  furnished  with 
enormous  means,  it  is  simply  an  impossibility,  and  it  is  there- 
fore quite  natural  that  under  the  actually  existing  state  of  things 
self-help  in  accordance  with  the  proposals  of  the  celebrated  politi- 
cal economist,  Schulze-Delitzsch,  is  preferred  to  it  among  really 
intelligent  workmen.  Indeed  this  self-help  in  which  so  many 
at  present  pride  themselves  with  mistaken  vanity,  is  in  itself 
only  a  very  poor  expedient,  and  as  a  principle  just  as  inefficient 
as  state  assistance  is  efficient.  For  self-help  without  means 
merely  signifies  simple  failure  or  gradual  languishing.  If  we 
throw  a  man  who  cannot  swim,  without  any  means  of  keeping 
himself  above  water,  into  a  rushing  stream,  (and  life  is  just  such 
a  stream,)  he  will  certainly  sink  in  it.  But  if  we  previously 
teach  him  to  swim  or  to  sail  and  give  him  a  boat  or  put  an  oar 
into  his  hand,  he  will  struggle  successfully  with  the  waves. 
But  the  blindness  that  exists  as  to  the  present  state  of  society  is 
so  great,  that  those  who  possess  all  the  resources  for  the 
struggle  or  for  onward  movement  in  the  greatest  superfluity. 

*  See  Appendix  No.  49. 


230  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

furnish  none  of  them  to  their  poor  or  struggling  brother,  but 
refer  him  scornfully  to  that  self-help  which  in  most  cases  has 
not  been  pra6lised  by  themselves,  and  rather  suffocate  in  their 
own  fatness,  than  yield  to  others  something  out  of  their  super- 
fluity, which,  perhaps,  is  even  a  trouble  to  themselves.  The 
throwing  of  an  oar  or  plank  from  the  ship  of  the  rich  or  high- 
placed  man  as  it  sails  proudly  by,  would  often  suffice  to  save 
the  poor  one  from  certain  destruction  ;  but  the  principle  of  self- 
help  forbids  it,  and  the  poor  man  must  sink  with  a  last  despair- 
ing glance  at  those  treasures  which  are  often  only  an  annoyance 
to  others,  and  to  him  would  be  synonymous  with  salvation  and 
happiness.* 

All  this  proves  that  self-help  without  aid  from  the  state  is  just 
as  much  an  impossibility  as  state  assistance  without  the  aid  of 
society,  and  also  that  the  root  of  the  whole  evil  lies  not  in  the 
position  of  the  laboring  class  as  such,  but  in  the  false  and  in- 
sufficient organization  of  society.  The  position  of  the  workman 
is  only  a  simple  necessary  consequence  of  our  general  and 
economic  state  and  of  the  false  and  unjust  distribution  of  labor 
in  social  life.  Mutual  equalization  and  distribution  of  the  pos- 
sessions which  have  become  useless  to  individuals  through  the 
community  with  the  assistance  of  the  state,  at  the  same  time 
securing  to  the  individual  those  means  and  conditions  which  he 
absolutely  requires  in  his  struggle  for  existence,  is  here  also  the 
only  means  of  salvation. 

When  the  working  men  and  the  present  leaders  of  their 
movement  have   once  clearly   realized   this  truth  with  all   its 

*Schultze-Delitzsch,  with  his  self-help,  has,  however,  the  advantage  over  all  his 
opponents,  over  all  socialistic  or  economistic  systems,  that  he  takes  his  stand  upon 
ike  ground  0/ existing  conditions  and  from  this  evolves  a  directly  beneficial  activity, 
whilst  all  others  hope  in  the  future  and  require  considerable  political  revolutions 
as  a  necessary  preliminary  condition  for  their  practical  activity.  One  may  there- 
fore very  well  be  a  decided  socialist  and  nevertheless,  so  long;  as  political  conditions 
remain  the  same,  be  active  in  the  direction  of  Schultz's  system.  However,  it  is 
now  a  generally  admitted  fact  that  this  system  is  almost  solely  beneficial  to  smaU 
operations,  small  masters,  &c.,  whilst  the  actual  workman  derives  very  little  if 
any  benefit  from  it. 


w 


HERE    ARE    WE   GOING?  23I 


necessary  consequences,  they  will  save  themselves  many  use- 
less words  and  efforts  and,  what  is  of  more  consequence,  much 
self-deception.  An  evil  is  not  cured  by  counteracting  its  symp- 
toms or  external  phenomena,  but  by  attacking  it  at  the  root. 
In  this  respect  Lassalle  has  done  much  mischief  by  raising  a 
special  workman's  question  when  he  should  have  disclosed  and 
attacked  the  social  defects;  with  his  universal  suffrage  and 
state-associations  he  has  held  out  a  bait  to  the  workmen,  at 
which  they  certainly  bit  with  avidity,  but  which,  in  the  hour  of 
danger,  will  leave  them  miserably  in  the  lurch.  Lassalle,  how- 
ever, was  no  socialist,  as  so  many  in  their  ignorance  suppose, 
but  an  economist ;  at  least  his  proposals  have  nothing  of  a 
socialistic  character  about  them.  Almost  at  the  moment  of  the 
first  appearance  of  Lassalle  the  author  publicly  expressed  the 
opinion  here  maintained  of  him  and  his  system  in  a  report  upon 
Lassalle' s  Labor-programme,  made  on  April  19,  1863,  at 
Roedelheim,*  and  although  now  seven  years'  experience  lies 
behind  us,  he  can  still  subscribe  to  nearly  every  word  contained 
in  it.  The  crude  communism,  into  which  Lassalle' s  labor- 
movement  has  since  degenerated,  is,  however,  the  best  proof 
of  its  intrinsic  untenabiUty.  But  for  the  workmen  themselves 
and  their  cause  it  is  a  bad  sign  that  names  such  as  those  of 
Lassalle  and  Schulze-Delitsch  could  become  a  sort  of  Shiboleth 
or  battle-cry  to  divide  them  into  two  hostile  camps  contending 
with  each  other  with  great  fury  ;  this  shows  a  frightful  want  of 
consideration  and  judgment  and  instead  of  these  a  blind  imita- 
tion or  idolatry.  But  man  should  have  no  idols,  whether 
religious,  poUtical,  scientific  or  social.  Let  us  leave  idolatry 
to  the  middle  ages,  to  the  hypocrites,  the  blockheads  and  the 
sluggards ! 

*Herr  Lassalle  und  die  Arbeiter.  —  Bericht  und  Vortrag,  etc.,  von  Dr.  Louis 
Buchner,  R.  Baist,  Frankfort  on  the  Maine. 


THE   FAMILY. 

As  often  as  proposals  have  been  made  for  the  improvement 
or  reformation  of  the  state  of  society,  an  unanimous  cry 
rises  from  the  mouths  of  opponents  that  it  is  intended  to  under- 
mine the  eternal  and  indestru6lible  chief  pillars  of  law,  morals 
and  the  family.  The  family,  especially,  is  regarded  in  this  case 
as  the  indispensable  foundation  of  society,  as  the  nursery  of 
every  thing  good  and  noble,  and  as  the  firmest  support  of  the 
so-called  Christian  state, —  and  every  one  who  ventures  to  say 
a  word  against  this  institution,  sanctified  as  it  is  by  age,  is 
branded  as  half  a  criminal.  It  is  therefore  well  worth  the 
trouble  to  examine  once  for  all  how  far  this  assertion,  which  is 
so  generally  accepted  as  incontestible,  is  or  is  not  correct,  and 
to  see  whether  such  terrible  consequences,  as  are  generally  set 
before  us,  are  really  to  be  anticipated  from  a  limitation  of 
family  rights  for  the  benefit  of  the  community.  We  then  as- 
certain in  the  first  place  that  in  its  present  form  the  family  also 
is  closely  and  necessarily  connected  with  that  condition  of  social 
egotism  which  we  have  found  to  be  the  consequence  of  the  un- 
limited struggle  for  existence  when  not  yet  bridled  by  the 
power  of  reason,  and  that  the  family  represents  on  a  larger 
scale  in  society  very  nearly  what  the  individual  is  in  the  com- 
munity. We  know  from  history  that  the  striving  for  family 
lustre,  family  power  and  family  wealth  has  at  all  times  been  one 
of  the  principal  objeds  of  human  endeavors,  and  that  to  this 
striving  all  higher  human  obje6ls,  all  considerations  of  the 
common-weal  have  been   sacrificed  in   innumerable   instances 

(232) 


WHERE    ARE   WE   GOING?  233 

without  hesitation  or  scruple.  Although  the  great  French 
revolution  has  effected  a  great  improvement  in  this  respect  and, 
by  the  principle  of  individual  liberty  and  equality  introduced 
by  it,  broken  the  direct  political  power  of  the  great  families, 
still  the  system  continues  to  exist  as  such  in  the  social  domain 
and  by  direct  means  even  in  the  political ;  and  what  is  called 
nepotism,  or  the  favoring  of  certain  families  and  their  individual 
members  to  the  injury  of  the  rest  and  of  the  community,  forms, 
as  is  well  known,  one  of  the  most  hateful  and  at  the  same  time 
injurious  features  of  our  political  and  social  state. 

If  we  leave  this  out  of  consideration  and  consider  only  the 
family  as  such,  no  one,  of  course,  will  deny  that  in  itself  it 
forms  a  truly  human  institution,  and  that  in  its  ideal  form  it  is 
capable  or  even  destined  to  exert  the  most  beneficial  influence 
upon  human  development  and  manners.  But  if  we  enquire 
further  where  and  how  often  this  ideal  family  is  really  to  be  met 
with,  the  answer  to  this  question  is  very  lamentable.  Here,  as 
everywhere,  the  struggle  for  existence  in  its  wildest  form  has 
raged  fearfully  and  most  unrestrainedly,  and  left  the  happiness 
and  the  infinite  tendernesses  of  the  true  family  life  to  be  enjoyed 
by  very  few.  The  family  in  its  true  form  exists  only  for  the 
rich  and  prosperous  ;  whilst  the  poor  man  or  the  proletaire 
know  the  family  only  in  a  form  which  in  general  constitutes 
the  dire6l  opposite  of  what  it  should  be. 

If  we  consider  first  of  all  the  lowest  strata  of  society,  as  those 
who  belong  to  it  are  usually  destitute  of  the  means  of  founding 
a  true  family,  they  often  enough  replace  it  by  vicious  courses 
or  illicit  cohabitation.  Where  this  is  not  the  case,  the  family- 
life  of  the  lower  and  lowest  classes  is  unfortunately  as  a  rule 
rather  a  nursery  of  evil  than  of  good,  and  it  fulfills  its  essential 
purpose  only  in  a  very  imperfect  manner.  For  during  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  day  both  parents  are  absent  from  home 
seeking  their  livelihood, —  and  as  to  the  children,  when  under 
the  most  defective  care  and  domestic  bringing  up  they  have 


234  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

attained  a  certain  age,  they  are  regarded  by  their  parents 
rather  as  working  instruments  than  as  human  beings  entrusted 
to  their  care.  The  father  who,  in  common  life,  leads  a  de- 
pendent and  servile  or  uniform,  unintellectual  existence,  sees  in 
his  wife  and  children  the  only  beings  in  the  world  over  whom 
he  is  justified  in  exerting  a  certain  personal  authority,  and  in 
the  few  moments  of  his  being  at  home  or  of  his  family-life, 
revenges  himself  for  his  social  depression  by  the  rough  treat- 
ment or  maltreatment  of  these  beings.  If  to  this,  as  is  so  fre- 
quently the  case,  drunkenness  be  added,  the  matter  becomes 
still  worse.  The  poor  children  grow  up  in  constant  anxiety,  in 
want,  under  the  most  unfavorable  conditions  for  life  and  health, 
and  misguided  by  the  constant  spectacle  of  coarseness  and  evil.* 
Thus  even  in  earliest  youth  the  germ  of  intellectual  and  corpo- 
real crippling  is  laid,  and  whatever  of  good  Nature  has  still  pre- 
severed  in  them  is  utterly  lost  when  they  are  forced  upon 
toilsome  and  wearing  labor  at  an  age  when  the  children  of  the 
rich  just  begin  really  to  enjoy  their  existence.  Animal  impulses, 
restrained  by  no  moral  counterpoise,  and  want  of  insight  or  of 
true  family  sentiment,  also  allow  the  fmiilies  of  the  poor  to  be- 
come generally  much  more  numerous  than  those  of  the  rich, 
and  thus  the  wretchedness  of  the  rising  generation  is  incalcula- 
bly increased.  But  our  existing  system  of  police,  which  em- 
ploys such  great  means  to  manifest  a  hypocritical  care  for  the 
bare  life  of  those  under  it,  and  which  sends  a  poor  girl,  who  in 
her  shame  and  despair  has  got  rid  of  her  illegitimate  child,  to 
the  house  of  correction  for  many  years,  makes  no  enquiry 
whether  and  how  a  great,  perhaps  the  greater  part  of  its  future 
citizens  are  maltreated  both  corporeally  and  intellectually  in 
their  childish  days,  and  regards  them  merely  as  the  property  of 

*  Suicides,  as  is  well  known,  are  very  rare  among  children.  Nevertheless 
DQrand-Fardel  has  ascertained  that  between  the  years  1835  and  1844  no  fewer  than 
192  suicides  took  place  in  France,  and  of  these  132  were  on  account  0/  ill  treat- 
ment by  parents. 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING?  235 

their  parents,  who  are  just  as  likely  to  rear  their  child  into  a 
monster  as  into  a  good  citizen.  But  if  the  monster  is  there 
against  our  will,  the  christian  state,  raised  upon  the  foundations 
of  true  morality,  is  also  at  hand,  to  punish  the  unfortunate  vic- 
tim with  chains  and  dungeon  —  with  sword  and  rack  —  for  its 
own  guilt ! 

No  one  who  is  acquainted  with  these  circumstances  and  who 
has  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  with  his  own  eyes  what  a 
cradle  of  misery  and  despair,  of  abomination  and  present  and 
future  crime  the  family  in  its  bad  form  frequently  if  not  gener- 
ally conceals  within  it,  will  be  inclined  to  deny  that,  at  all 
events  for  the  lowest  strata  of  society,  social  education  is  far 
preferable  to  domestic,  and  that  an  infringement  or  limitation 
of  this  sort  of  family  for  the  benefit  of  an  education  of  youth, 
arranged  and  supervised  by  the  state,  can  do  no  more  to  injure 
the  principles  of  morality  than  those  of  sound  reason. 

But  not  only  in  the  lowest  classes  of  society,  but  also  in  its 
middle  and  even  at  its  highest  point  the  family  is  unfortunately 
only  too  often  a  school  of  despotism  or  of  evil,  and  rather  the 
tomb  than  the  cradle  of  good  ;  and  this  is  especially  the  case 
when  the  chief  of  the  family  has  a  defective  character  or  a  bad 
disposition,  or  when  by  misfortunes,  disappointments  and  so 
forth  he  is  driven  to  desperate  courses,  or  finally  when  the 
harmony  between  husbimd  and  wife,  which  is  so  necessary  for 
the  existence  of  a  good  family,  is  wanting.  It  is  true  that  in 
what  is  called  good  society  one  does  not  generally  have  much 
experience  of  these  things,  but  the  frightful  family-tragedies, 
which  from  time  to  time  afe  brought  to  the  light  of  publicity  by 
peculiar  circumstances,  allow  us  to  conclude  that  much  is  con- 
cealed and  kept  secret.  But  even  where  there  is  nothing  of 
this  kind  in  the  case,  and  in  what  are  regarded  as  good  fami- 
lies, family  life  does  not  always  exert  a  strengthening  influence 
upon  the  nervous  system  and  upon  the  character,  and  the 
numerous  hysterical,  anaemic  and  nervous  ladies,  and  the  great 


236  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

number  of  men  with  no  energy  and  with  feeble  characters,  fur- 
nish evidence  by  no  means  in  favor  of  our  family-education. 
Taken  for  all  in  all  a  good,  prosperous,  rightly  and  rationally 
conducted  family  may  cause  all  other  systems  of  bringing  up  to 
appear  superfluous  for  its  members  ;  but  in  the  same  degree 
that  such  families  are  rare,  the  value  of  the  family-principle  as 
such  is  depressed,  and  in  opposition  to  it  the  value  of  a  social 
or  governmental  system  of  education  rises.  Even  if  the  state 
were  to  leave  out  of  account  all  high  moral  considerations  and 
entirely  neglect  the  principle  of  political  humanity,  it  must 
merely  from  economical  or  selfish  grounds  turn  its  greatest 
attention  to  that  which  will  form  the  subject  of  the  following 
section,  namely,  education. 


EDUCATION. 

BOTH  duty  and  interest  prescribe  to  the  government  of  the 
future  to  turn  its  chief  attention  to  a  general,  uniform 
system  of  popular  education,  such  as  may  satisfy  the  claims  of 
the  present  state  of  knowledge.  Duty,  because  as  we  have 
seen,  every  man  brings  with  him  an  equal  right  not  merely  to 
the  material  but  also  to  the  intellectual  possessions  of  mankind 
or  in  specie  of  his  people,  and  because  he  can  victoriously  sup- 
port his  struggle  for  existence  only  when  he  treads  the  stage  of 
life  furnished  with  the  most  necessary  means  of  cultivation  of  his 
time  ;  Interest,  because  nothing  can  be  better  for  the  state  than 
if  by  giving  a  good  education  to  the  people  and  by  leading 
them  to  what  is  good,  its  enormous  expenditure  for  barracks, 
prisons,  police,  and  the  administration  of  criminal  law,  may  be 
rendered  for  the  most  part  unnecessary. 

The  theory  of  the  Manchester  men  would  withdraw  every 
thing  which  does  not  relate  to  the  protection  of  person  and 
property  from  the  charge  of  the  state,  and  leave  it  to  private 
activity  ;  but  how  little  it  has  proved  itself  in  respect  to  the  im- 
portant matter  of  popular  education  is  shown  by  England,  the 
classic  land  of  personal  liberty,  where  the  rudeness  and  want  of 
culture  of  the  lower  ranks  of  the  people  have  reached  such  a 
frightful  pass,  that  at  present  the  agitation  for  the  introduction 
of  general  and  compulsory  school-education,  after  the  conti- 
nental and  especially  the  German  pattern,  has  become  universal 
there.  On  the  peoples'  school  depends  the  whole  future  of  the 
state  and  of  humanity  ;  and  whoever,   in  a  given  state,    could 

(237) 


238  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

make  sure  of  holding  firmly  in  his  hand  the  Ministry  of  educa- 
tion for  twenty  or  thirty  years,  might  answer  for  every  possible 
change  in  that  state  in  the  direction  of  culture,   freedom  and 
progress.     By  education  everything  good  may  be  made  of  man 
and  especially  of  the  average  man  ;  by  the  want  of  it  every 
thing  bad.     That  crimes  against  the  laws  of  the  state  or  of  so- 
ciety are  for  the  most  part  just  as  much  the  result  of  defective 
culture  or  perverted  education,  as  necessary  consequences  of 
the  general  distresses  of  society,  is  a  fa6t  too  well  known  and 
recognized  to  need  more  than  a  brief  indication.     Criminals  are 
therefore  as  a  rule  rather  unfortunate  than  detestable,   and  a 
future,  better  time  will  look  back  upon  the  criminal  processes 
of  our  day  with  the  same  feelings  with  which  we  now  regard 
the  political  trials  or  witchcraft  processes  of  the  past.     In  the 
same  proportion  as  culture,  prosperity  and  morals  advance,  we 
know  by  experience  that  crime  decreases ;  it  will  probably  dis- 
appear in  time  altogether,  with  the  exception  of  a  scanty  resi- 
due, just  like  the  former  great  epidemic  diseases.      Crime  in 
political  life,  is  nothing  more  than  disease  in  physical  life ;  and 
just  as  in  medicine  and  in  public  sanitary  administration  we 
have  gradually  come  to  see  that  it  is  better  and  more  advan- 
tageous to  prevent  diseases  than  to  oppose  them  after  they  have 
broken  out,  so  in  the  life  of  the  state  we  shall  learn  that  it  is 
better  to  prevent  crime  by  rational  arrangements  or  to  suppress 
it  at  its  origin,  than  to  fight  against  it  with  fire  and  sword  when 
it  has  been  produced.      Make  your  arrangements  good  and 
wise,  O  ye  rulers  of  the  state,  and  then  men  will  become  also 
good  and  wise ! 

As  regards  the  education  or  instruction  itself,  it  need  scarcely 
be  remarked,  in  the  face  of  the  requirements  so  often  and  so 
pressingly  made  by  all  liberal  parties  and  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  established  by  us,  that  general,  obligatory  and 
gratuitous  instruction  in  national  schools  until  the  attainment  of 
a  certain  age  is  the  least  that  can  be  demanded  in  this  respedl. 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING?  239 

whilst  the  higher  educational  institutions  must  at  least  be  open 
gratuitously  for  all  those  who  are  willing  to  make  use  of  them. 
That  the  fostering  of  science  as  such  must  also  form  one  of  the 
principal  tasks  of  the  state,  and  especially  of  the  state  of  the 
future,  is  a  matter  of  course,  although  this  must  be  effected  in 
a  different  way  than  by  our  existing  Universities  and  higher 
educational  institutions,  which  have  gradually  fallen  from  their 
former  elevation  as  nurseries  of  free  science,  and  become  more 
or  less  mere  training  institutions  for  the  learned  professions, 
and  especially  for  future  compliant  tools  of  the  mechanism  of 
government.  * 

Moreover,  it  is  not  sufficient  merely  to  care  for  education 
during  the  period  of  youth  ;  time  and  opportunity  rnust  also  be 
given  to  the  grown-up  man  to  continue  his  intellectual  develop- 
ment and  to  take  part,  at  least  to  a  certain  extent,  in  the  great 
intelle6lual  acquisitions  of  his  time.  This  applies  especially  to 
the  true  working  classes,  who  after  the  termination  of  their 
school-time  under  present  circumstances  usually  escape  entirely 
from  the  course  of  culture  of  their  time,  and  allow  the  man  to 
rise  or  sink  almost  completely  into  the  workman.  But  in  a 
humanely  organized  state  every  one  should  be  and  remain  a 
man  ;  and  this  can  be  effected  for  the  working  classes  only  by 
a  legal  diminution  of  the  hours  of  labor  and  the  estabhshment 
of  a  normal  working  day  by  the  state,  f  The  hours  thus  daily 
set  free  for  the  workman  would  give  him  the  opportunity  to 
cultivate  his  knowledge,  to  learn  to  understand  the  time  in 
which  he  lives,  to  enjoy  suitable  and  intelle6lual  pleasures, —  in 
a  word  to  live  as  a  man  and  not  as  a  mere  working  machine  or 
beast  of  burden. 

The  attention  of  the  state  ought  to  be  devoted  not  only  to 
the  intellectual  but  also  to  the  bodily  education  of  those  who 
belong  to  it,  and  to  the  protection  of  the  rising  generation  from 
premature  crippling  of  the  body.     The  sins  that  are  still  com- 

*See  Appendix  No.  50.     +  See  Appendix  No.  51. 


240  MAN   IN  THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

mitted  in  this  particular,  partly  by  action,  partly  by  negledl, 
are  so  indescribably  numerous  and  great  that  we  might  fill 
volumes  with  their  description.  Here,  again,  nothing  but  social 
education  and  governmental  supervision  can  help  us.  It  is  a 
statistically  proved  and  truly  horrible  fact  that  the  duration  ol 
Hfe  in  the  lower  ranks  of  society,  especially  the  working  classes, 
is  generally  only  half  or  two-thirds  of  that  which  the  higher 
ranks  enjoy,  so  that  by  the  present  condition  of  society  the 
former  are  cheated  out  of  nearly  half  their  normal  life.  The 
cause  of  this  sad  phenomenon  lies  in  the  infinite  deficiencies 
both  of  public  and  private  sanitary  measures,  in  the  neglect  of 
corporeal  education  during  youth,  and  in  the  disregard  of  the 
bodily  welfare  of  the  working  classes  during  their  subsequent 
life.  In  improving  these  conditions,  the  legal  abridgment  of 
the  time  of  labor  and  the  alternation  of  work  and  recreation 
thereby  afforded,  will  have  the  most  beneficial  consequences. 


WOMAN. 

IT  is  a  fad  historically  proved  that  the  estimation  of  and  re- 
spect for  woman  in  human  society  have  increased  in  the 
same  proportion  that  the  degree  of  general  culture  and  good 
manners  has  been  elevated.  In  like  manner  in  the  present  day 
we  find  that  the  position  of  woman  is  the  more  creditable  the 
higher  the  degree  of  culture  in  the  nation,  whilst  among  savage 
tribes  she  still  occupies  that  lowest  grade  as  the  slave  and  beast 
of  burden  of  the  stronger  sex,  which  was  quite  universally  as-  • 
signed  to  her  at  the  dawn  of  civilization,  and  among  half-civilized 
peoples  (for  example,  in  the  East)  she  occupies  only  the  some- 
what better  position  of  a  half-slave.  Even  this  single  fa6l 
might  suffice  to  indicate  the  way  on  which  the  position  of 
woman  has  to  advance  in  the  future,  and  to  show  how  a  man 
belonging  to  a  civilized  nation  and  himself  laying  claim  to  cul- 
ture, has  to  act  towards  her.  "We  men,"  as  Radenhausen 
well  says  {/sis,  Band  III.  p.  loo),  "  must  accustom  ourselves 
to  regard  and  treat  the  female  half  of  mankind  not  as  agents 
for  the  service  and  gratification  of  the  men,  but  as  our  equals." 
There  is  indeed  not  the  slightest  visible  reason  why  the  prin- 
ciple of  equal  legal  rights,  which  is  at  present  so  generally  recog- 
nized, should  not  also  be  extended  to  the  female  half  of  the 
human  race.  The  duties  and  performances  that  woman  has  to 
fulfill  in  the  organism  of  human  society  do  not  yield  either  in 
importance  or  in  difficulty  to  those  of  the  men,  and  these  per- 
formances might  be  increased  far  beyond  their  present  measure 
if  only  a  larger  and  freer  field  were  opened  to  the  activity  of 

(241) 


242  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,     AND    FUTURE. 

women.  Even  if  women,  as  many  suppose,  cannot  in  general 
compete  with  men  in  the  force  and  elevation  of  their  perform- 
ances, this  is  no  reason  from  cutting  them  off  from  competition, 
and  thus  injuring  them  in  the  general  struggle  for  existence 
more  than  they  are  already  injured  by  their  weaker  nature. 
Moreover,  even  after  the  removal  of  all  barriers,  this  very 
struggle  for  existence  will  furnish  the  best  security  that  woman 
shall  not  overstep  the  range  of  activity  assigned  to  her  by  na- 
ture, and  all-powerful  custom  will  do  more  than  any  police- 
regulations  to  keep  sensitive  women  aloof  from  such  things  or 
spheres  to  which  they  are  not  equal  or  fitted.  There  are  indeed 
many  branches  of  human  activity  for  which  women  are  as  well 
fitted  as  men,  if  not  better,  such  as  agriculture,  cattle-farming, 
gardening,  watchmaking,  weaving,  needlework  and  the  like, 
also  setting  up  type,  post  office  work,  book-keeping,  manage- 
ment of  money,  authorship,  etc.,  etc.  All  kinds  of  arts  and 
even  sciences,  teaching,  medicine,  care  of  the  poor  and  sick, 
the  bringing  up  of  children  and  so  forth,  also  very  frequently 
find  their  most  distinguished  representatives  in  women.  That 
they  do  not  always  perform  so  much  as  men  is  due  not  merely 
to  their  weaker  nature  or  to  their  smaller  capability  of  work, 
but  equally,  or  perhaps  even  more,  to  their  defective  education 
and  depressed  social  position.  Free  women  from  this  depressed 
position,  give  them  the  education  and  culture  necessary  for 
life,  and  we  shall  see  what  they  are  able  to  perform  when  placed 
on  an  equality  with  men  politically  and  socially. —  Whether 
this  be  much  or  little,  it  can  only  be  for  the  advantage  of  the 
community  if  by  increased  rivalry  the  zeal  of  competition  is  in- 
creased on  both  sides,  and  so  great  an  amount  of  working 
power,  hitherto  lying  idle,  is  supplied  to  Society.  But  the 
least  that  woman,  as  such,  can  demand  for  herself  is,  that  the 
course  may  at  least  be  left  free  to  her  on  which  to  try  competi- 
tion with  the  stronger  sex. 

"At  any  rate,'  as  Radenhausen  well  says,  "the  female  half 


WHERE   ARE   WE    GOING  f  243 

has  a  right  to  demand  permission  to  try  its  capabilities  for  the 
advancement  of  humanity  in  every  branch  of  activity,  and  that 
the  path  to  culture  which  stands  open  to  the  male  half,  should 
also  be  opened  to  it. ' '  If  this  male  half  or  the  so-called  stronger 
sex  fears  this  competition  and  seeks  to  get  rid  of  it  by  despotic 
regulations,  this  is  the  best  proof  that  in  reality  woman  and  her 
capabilities  of  performance  are  more  highly  estimated  than 
would  generally  appear,  and  that  this  sex  cannot  resolve  to  re- 
sign the  cherished  habit  of  ruling  and  oppressing. 

The  position  of  mitigated  slavery  which  woman  even  now 
generally  occupies  with  respe6l  to  man,  is  merely  a  residue 
from  that  barbarous  period  when  the  stronger  man  harnessed 
the  weaker  woman  to  the  plough,  in  spite  of  her  less  bodily 
powers,  and  set  her  to  perform  all  labors  of  the  most  difficult 
and  humiliating  kind,  whilst  he  himself  reposed  upon  his  bear- 
skin; and  when  the  Europeans  of  the  present  day  exclude 
women  from  so  many  branches  of  useful  activity  on  the  plea 
that  their  nature  is  not  adapted  for  them,  this  logic  resembles 
the  well-known  slave-law,  which  denies  to  slaves  and  oppressed 
people  generally  the  capacity  for  freedom,  and  in  accordance 
with  this  also  (in  the  interest  of  the  oppressor)  freedom  itself. 
If  it  be  really  true  that  woman  does  not  possess  the  capabilities 
which  would  entitle  her  to  a  position  in  life  equal  to  that  of 
man,  and  that  she  is  not  able  to  acquire  it,  her  social  position 
would  not  be  essentially  altered  in  spite  of  all  emancipation. 
Thus  it  would  only  depend  upon  an  experiment,  quite  free  from 
danger  in  itself,  to  ascertain  whether  the  above-mentioned  sup- 
position is  correct  or  not. 

The  objections  which  have  been  raised  to  the  so-called  eman- 
cipation of  women,  or  in  other  words  to  their  political  and  social 
equalization  with  men,  are  generally  of  so  untenable  a  kind 
that  it  requires  some  little  self-command  on  the  part  of  a  candid 
author  to  argue  against  them.  The  commonest  and  most  fre- 
quent objection  is  that  woman  in  her  whole  nature  is  intended 


244  MAN   IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

for  domestic  life,  for  the  family,  for  bringing  up  children  and  so 
forth,  and  that  this  true  destination  of  woman  must  be  preju- 
diced by  her  partaking  in  public  or  social  affairs  or  in  any  other 
kind  of  activity.  This  objection  overlooks  the  essential  point 
on  which  the  whole  question  turns,  and  presupposes,  quite  er- 
roneously, that  the  object  of  the  emancipation  of  woman  is  to 
tear  her  from  her  natural  sphere  of  a6lion  or  her  household 
duties  and  to  fling  her  unnecessarily  into  the  business  of  the 
great  world.  No  woman  who  possesses  a  family  and  a  domes- 
tic sphere  of  action  and  finds  in  this  activity  satisfaction  for  her 
mental  or  moral  faculties,  will  allow  herself  to  be  disturbed  in 
this  a6livity  or  kept  away  from  it  by  emancipation,  whilst  that 
very  great  number  of  women  who  do  not  possess  such  a  sphere 
of  a61ion  or  do  not  find  their  lives  fully  occupied  by  it,  suffer 
the  heaviest  privation  in  the  want  of  this  freedom,  and  find 
themselves  condemned  against  their  will  to  a  mental  or  bodily 
ina6livity  which  often  becomes  the  source  of  the  most  serious 
evils.  How  many  women  pine  away  or  deteriorate,  sometimes 
bodily,  sometimes  intellectually  and  both  in  and  out  of  wedlock, 
under  the  deadening  pressure  of  a  constant  idleness  which  is 
imposed  upon  them  by  an  imaginary  regard  for  their  position, 
or  by  compulsory  sloth  and  ina6lion  !  The  innate  impulse  to 
a6lion  then  finally  breaks  out  in  a  love  of  gossip  or  dress  which 
ruins  the  character,  and  in  all  sorts  of  frivolities  and  absurdities 
which  justly  lowers  the  female  sex  in  the  eyes  of  intelligent  men. 
On  the  contrary,  a  woman  who  has  learnt  culture  and  work 
and  is  consequently  in  a  position  to  exert  a  profitable  activity  in 
life,  will  keep  aloof  from  such  follies  ;  she  will  not  be  compelled 
to  speculate  only  upon  marriage  and  to  give  her  hand  to  the 
first  comer,  often  without  affection,  merely  for  the  sake  of  being 
married  ;  if  unmarried  she  will  not  feel  unhappy  through  her 
whole  life;  and  if  married  she  will  stand  by  the  side  of  her  hus- 
band in  quite  another  fashion  than  hitherto.  Hand  in  hand 
with  him,  not  as  his  servant  or  as  a  friend  entirely  dependent 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING?  245 

upon  him,  but  as  his  free  and  equal  companion,  she  will  pass 
with  him  through  life,  and  be  able  in  case  of  need,  to  take  care 
of  herself  and  her  children  even  without  him  ;  whilst,  at  pres- 
ent, as  a  general  rule,  the  death  of  the  provider  throws  the 
whole  family  into  the  always  open  arms  of  indigence. 

It  is  an  extremely  absurd  and  truly  pedantic  assertion,  that 
culture  and  work  strip  the  nimbus  of  womanhood  from  woman, 
and  that  intellectually  developed  and  independent  women  are 
not  capable  of  a  true  devotion  to  their  husbands.  The  precise 
contrary  to  this  is  the  truth,  and  there  can  certainly  be  no  better 
means  of  elevating  marriage  and  family-life  in  general  than  the 
emancipation  of  woman  to  work,  acquisition  and  culture.  The 
mere  consciousness  of  being  unable  to  support  herself,  and  that 
she  must  be  all  her  life  long  a  burden  upon  her  husband  or  her 
father,  causes  a  feeling  of  depression  in  a  woman,  which  is  the 
greater  in  proportion  as  she  is  sensible  and  cultivated,  and  de- 
stroys that  contentment  which  is  so  necessary  to  happy  family- 
life.  "  The  pure  twilight  of  home,"  so  often  referred  to,  in 
which  alone  true  womanhood  is  supposed  to  thrive  and  which 
has  been  so  keenly  ridiculed  by  Fanny  Lewald,  is  merely  a 
great  superstition,  and  is  an  anachronism  in  our  time  of  univer- 
sal striving  after  freedom  and  light.  If  it  were  not  so,  "the 
pure  twilight  of  home  ' '  in  combination  with  ' '  true  woman- 
hood "  would  be  best  found  in  the  harems  of  Turkish  magnates! 

With  all  this  indeed  it  cannot  and  must  not  be  denied  that 
the  majority  of  women  will  always  and  under  all  circumstances 
seek  and  find  their  true  task  in  life  in  marriage  and  domestic 
cares,  although,  as  has  been  said,  even  the  wife  and  mother 
will  essentially  improve  her  own  position  and  that  of  her  family 
by  a  greater  amount  of  culture  and  independence.  But  because 
this  is  the  case,  shall  all  those  women  who  do  not  reach  this 
goal  or  do  not  wish  to  reach  it,  be  forever  depressed  and  con- 
demned to  compulsory  ina6livity  ?  Shall  genius  and  intelligence 
become  of  no  consequence,    merely  because  they  happen  to 


246  MAN    IN    THE    PAST.    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

have  taken  up  their  abode  in  a  female  brain  ?  Shall  talents  and 
capabilities  remain  undeveloped  merely  because  a  woman 
possesses  them  ?  and  shall  the  impulse  to  a6livity  and  business 
be  allowed  to  waste  without  benefit  to  mankind  merely  because 
they  do  not  appear  in  the  form  of  a  man  ?  History  teaches  us 
incontestibly  that  there  have  been  among  women  savants,  ar- 
tists, politicians,  &c. ,  as  great  as  among  men  ;  and  if  their  num- 
ber is  small  in  comparison  with  the  men  this  is  due  in  part  to 
the  natural  destination  of  woman  to  a  more  limited  sphere  of 
a6tivity,  and  in  part  to  the  want  of  freedom  and  equality,  as 
also  of  the  necessary  previous  cultivation.  Even  in  the  dissimi- 
lar education  of  the  two  sexes  in  youth  there  is  an  infinite  in- 
justice and  injury  to  the  woman,  to  marriage  and  to  the  family 
which  cannot  afterwards  be  made  good.  A  cultivated  woman 
is  as  great  a  blessing  to  the  house,  as  an  uncultivated  one  may 
be  a  curse  ! 

It  is  true  that  from  the  scientific  or  physiological  side  a 
weighty  objection  has  been  attempted  to  be  raised  against  the 
cultivability  of  woman  in  comparison  to  that  of  man,  by  refer- 
ence to  the  fa(5l:  that  the  brain  of  women  is  considerably  inferior 
in  size  to  that  of  man.  This  objection  sounds  curious  enough 
in  the  mouth  of  those  who  in  all  other  things  reject  the  applica- 
tion of  materialistic  principles,  but  do  not  disdain  them  here, 
when  they  can  make  an  advantageous  use  of  them  ;  but  as  the 
fa<5l  itself  is  indubitable,  we  must  accept  the  consequences  de- 
duced from  it,  if  these  rest  upon  corre6l  suppositions.  This, 
however,  is  by  no  means  the  case.  For  in  the  first  place,  the 
smaller  stature  and  weaker  muscular  development  of  women,  as 
well  as  the  smaller  diameter  of  the  nervous  threads  which  con- 
verge in  the  central  parts  of  the  nervous  system,  quite  naturally 
cause  the  total  mass  of  the  female  brain  to  be  comparatively 
smaller,  without  necessarily  causing  the  development  or  energy 
of  the  parts  of  the  brain  devoted  to  the  intelle6lual  functions  to 
suffer.     In  the  second  place,  even  if  it  could  be  demonstrated 


WHERE    ARE   WE   GOING?  247 

that  these  parts  remain  in  their  development  behind  those  of 
man,  this  ma)-  just  as  well  be  ascribed  to  defective  exercise  and 
cultivation,  as  to  an  original  deficiency.  For  it  is  well-known 
that  every  organ  of  the  body,  and,  therefore,  also  the  brain, 
requires  for  its  full  development,  and  consequently  for  the  de- 
velopment of  its  complete  capability  of  performance,  exercise 
and  persistent  effort.  That  this  is  and  has  been  the  case  for 
thousands  of  years  in  a  far  less  degree  in  woman  than  in  man, 
in  consequence  of  her  defective  training  and  education,  will  be 
denied  by  no  one, —  Woman,  therefore,  should  not  be  allowed 
to  suffer  under  the  consequences  of  a  condition  of  things  of 
which  she  is  entirely  innocent, — we  should  rather  seek  to  cul- 
tivate her  natural  talents  to  such  a  degree  and  in  such  a  manner 
that  she  may  lose  the  taste  for  miserable  gossip  and  finery,  and 
find  a  pleasure  in  turning  her  mind  to  more  serious  and  useful 
matters  than  hitherto.  When  once  this  has  been  effected  we 
shall  be  in  a  position,  without  injury  to  the  community,  to  con- 
fer upon  women  these  pohtical  rights  which  the  most  advanced 
among  them  even  now  demand  for  their  sex,  and  their  posses- 
sion of  which  will  place  them  with  regard  to  their  rights  on  a 
perfect  equality  with  men.  Finally,  in  confuting  this  objection 
a  point  must  not  be  forgotten  to  which  attention  cannot  be  too 
often  called,  namely,  that  the  estimation  of  the  intelle6lual  value 
of  a  brain  depends  not  merely  upon  its  size  or  material  bulk, 
but  equally,  if  not  even  more,  upon  its  internal  constitution  and 
the  finer  development  of  its  individual  parts,  and  that  it  is  per- 
fe6lly  conceivable  that  the  female  brain  as  regards  this  fineness 
and  in  accordance  with  the  greater  fineness  and  delicacy  of  the 
female  body  generally,  may  exceed  the  male  brain  in  the  same 
proportion  as  the  latter  exceeds  the  female  brain  in  its  develop- 
ment in  size. 

The  greatest  stumbling-block  to  men  has  probably  been  the 
requirement  of  equality  in  political  rights  on  the  part  of  women 
desirous  of  emancipation,  and  in  fact  under  the  circumstances 


248  MAN    IN    THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

which  still  prevail  any  such  experiment  must  be  rather  hazard- 
ous and  extremely  dangerous  to  freedom  and  progress.  Not 
that  we  would  wish  to  say  that  women  might  not  be  good  poli- 
ticians !  On  the  contrary,  history  teaches  us  most  clearly  that 
there  have  been  almost  as  many  ^^c'<3f  politicians  among  women, 
as  bad  ones  among  men. 

Even  now  in  political  (and  other)  respects,  how  many 
men  are  more  effeminate  and  greater  gossips  than  the  women 
themselves,  and  would  be  more  appropriately  seated  by 
the  hearth  or  the  spinning  wheel  than  in  the  grave  councils 
of  the  men  !  And  what  comparison  can  be  drawn  between 
the  political  insight  of  a  cultivated  woman,  acquainted  with 
the  necessities  of  her  time,  and  that  which  may  perhaps 
be  possessed  by  a  footman  or  a  shoe-black,  who  has  never 
looked  beyond  the  narrow  circle  of  his  humble  daily  oc- 
cupation ! 

And,  nevertheless,  this  man  possesses  the  suffrage,  and 
by  its  means  takes  part  in  the  settlement  of  the  destiny  of  his 
nation,  whilst  the  intelligent  and  highly  cultivated  woman  is  es- 
teemed incapable  of  exercising  any  such  right  !  But  all  this 
applies  only  in  individual  cases,  and  on  the  whole  the  still 
prevalent  intellectual  immaturity  and  want  of  discretion  of  the 
female  sex,  and  especially  its  weakness  in  respect  to  religion, 
makes  its  complete  political  emancipation  appear  impracticable, 
until  the  indispensably  necessary  conditions  of  education  and 
culture,  or  of  uniformity  in  the  advancement  of  the  two  sexes, 
shall  have  been  fulfilled.  Almost  all  experienced  politicians 
agree  that  the  immediate  granting  of  the  universal  suffrage  to 
women  would  be  equivalent  to  a  political  and  religious  retro- 
gression, which  would  of  course  be  even  much  less  desired  by 
free-thinking  women,  and  especially  by  the  female  leaders  of 
the  movement,  than  by  men  of  democratic  opinions.  Indeed 
one  of  our  most  prominent  authoresses,  the  equally  witty  and 
thoughtful  Fanny  Lcwald,  has  been  led  by  this  circumstance  to 


WHERE   ARE    WE    GOING?  249 

declare  herself  against  the  extension  ol  the  suffrage  to  women 
at  present,  and  to  formulate  the  requirements  of  female  emanci- 
pation as  follows  : 

' '  Instruction  for  the  ignorant  and  lowly,  and  recognition  for 
intelle6tually  matured  women  !" — a  formula  to  which  the 
author  adheres  with  all  his  heart !  * 

*  All  this  of  course  does  not  apply  to  the  right  of  women  to  the  suffrage  in 
principle,  which  we  maintain  most  decidedly,  but  only  regard  as  practicable 
when  women  shall  have  attained  a  position  of  equality  with  men  in  life,  culture 
and  power  of  performance.  Many  opponents  of  the  emancipation  of  woman 
have  made  the  absurd  objection,  that  with  the  exercise  of  universal  suffrage 
women  would  also  be  compelled  to  do  military  service  like  men  ;  but  they  have 
not  considered  that  in  consistently  following  out  this  principle  all  weak  or 
crippled  men  or  in  general  all  those  not  capable  of  military  service  ought  to  be 
deprived  of  the  suffrage.  In  her  own  way  and  in  proportion  to  her  powers 
woman  performs  just  the  same  if  not  greater  services  to  the  state  than  man,  and 
must  give  up  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  war-god  not  only  the  sons  whom  she  has  borne 
and  brought  up  to  man's  estate,  but  also  her  brothers  and  her  husband,  and 
undertake  the  care  of  those  who  are  left  behind.  What  unlimited  sacrifices 
women  are  capable  of  during  times  of  war,  in  the  care  of  the  sick,  providing 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  soldier,  &c.,  as  also  in  direct  participation  in  the 
defence  of  their  country  and  hearth,  are  too  well-known  to  render  more  than 
this  reference  to  them  necessary.  But  this  requirement  appears  most  absurd 
when  we  consider  that  even  among  healthy  men  only  a  comparatively  small 
number  usually  perform  actual  military  service ;  and  that  those  especially 
who  possess  and  exert  the  most  political  influence  are  precisely  those  who  have 
never  carried  a  gun  ;  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  the  young  men  capable  of  bearing 
arms,  who  are  usually  recruited  from  the  rural  population,  serve  at  a  time  when 
their  age  denies  them  any  legal  participation  in  the  exertion  of  the  general 
political  rights.  In  time  of  war,  as  is  well-known,  every  participation  of  the 
armies  in  the  field  in  political  matters  entirely  ceases. 


MARRIAGE. 

MARRIAGE,  although  it  occurs  also  in  animals  {e.  g.,  the 
Storks),  is  nevertheless  in  its  present  form  and  concep- 
tion essentially  a  product  of  human  culture.  It  is  therefore 
nothing  rigid  and  unalterable,  nothing  given  once  for  all  by- 
nature,  but  must  change  and  advance  with  the  increase  of  cul- 
ture. For  our  marriage  of  the  present  day  this  is  all  the  more 
necessary,  as  in  it  the  old  principles  of  compulsion  which  for- 
merly ruled  in  state,  church  and  society,  are  still  fully  repre- 
sented. For  the  progress  of  true  humanity  in  the  state  and 
society  scarcely  any  thing,  however,  can  be  more  efficacious 
than  the  liberation  of  marriage  from  these  narrowing  bars,  and 
its  conversion  into  a  proper  relation  of  the  two  sexes,  brought 
about  by  a  free  and  unconstrained  choice  on  both  sides  and  de- 
pendent for  its  permanence  upon  the  continuance  of  mutual 
rectitude  and  affection.  In  a  certain  sense  it  must  be  admitted 
that  the  whole  physical  and  intellectual  future  of  the  human 
race  depends  more  or  less  upon  the  future  form  of  marriage. 
For  although  the  union  of  the  best  with  the  best,  as  in  Plato'. s 
ideal  State,  would  not  answer,  the  union  of  the  most  suitable 
with  the  most  suitable  will  be  the  right  method  to  produce  the 
best  possible  race  in  the  future. 

Darwin  has  already  recognized  what  he  calls  sexual  selection 
as  a  mainspring  of  progress  in  animals,  and  Prof.  Haeckel  does 
not  hesitate  to  declare  on  the  strength  of  his  investigations, 
that  the  progress  of  the  human  race  in  histor}-  is  in  great  part 

(250) 


WHERE    ARE    WE    (;OING  ? 


2^1 


the  consequence  of  sexual  selection,  which  is  developed  to  a 
far  greater  extent  in  man  than  in  animals.      But  it  cannot  well 
be  disputed  that  this  peculiar  element,  which  has  only  been 
brought  to  light  by  Natural  History,  can  unfold  its  entire  and 
most  important  efficacy  fully  and  unobstructedly  only  when  the 
union  of  the  sexes  is  really  the  consequence  of  a  perfectly  free 
choice,  and  of  a  full  mutual  agreement  with  mutual  liking  and 
internal  satisfaction.      In  contrast  to  this  our  present  conven- 
tional and  constrained   marriage,   as  is  well   known,    only  too 
frequently  presents  mutual  discords  and  incurable  dissatisfac- 
tion of  the  most  repulsive  character,  which  is  most  injurious  to 
the  progress  of  the  race.     Even   the  emancipation   of  woman 
that  we  have  urged,  and  her  freer  and  more  independent  position 
with  regard  to  man,  will  constitute  a  necessary  condition  for  a 
different  form  of  marriage  in  the  future,   and    the    free  love- 
choice,  which  has  hitherto,  contrary  to  all  justice  and  reason, 
been  allowed  only  to  the  man,   must  in  future  form   equally  a 
right  of  the  maiden.     The  young  woman,  having  become  inde- 
pendent, will  no  longer  find  it  necessary  to  allow  herself  to  be 
treated  like  merchandise  in  the  market,   or  under  a  half-com- 
pulsion to  seize  upon  any  marriage  that  may  be  offered  to  her 
merely  to  escape  the  melancholy  state  of  spinsterhood  ;  but  she 
will  take  the  vows  only  when  the  married  life  seems  to  promise 
to  her  or  her  advisers  greater  happiness  and  greater  satisfaction 
than   the   single   one.      The   number  of  unhappy    marriages, 
prejudicial  to  the  progress  of  the  race,  which,  unfortunately,   is 
now  so  great,  will  then  diminish,  and  that  of  the  happy  and  bene- 
ficial ones  will  increase.      But  where,  in  spite  of  this,   a  disap- 
pointment may  occur,  the  necessary  facilitation  of  legal  separa- 
tion   will    render   impossible    the    repetition   of  those  frightful 
domestic  dramas,  which  nowadays,  to  the  shame  of  humanity, 
are  so  often  displayed  before  our  courts   of  justice.      From  the 
individual  horrors  which  attain  publicity,  we  may  judge  of  the 


252  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

many  still  greater  horrors  which  are  borne  silently  and  patiently  in 
concealment,  from  dread  of  public  shame.  Freedom,  free-will 
and  perfect  reciprocity  form  the  vital  air  in  which  alone  happy 
marriages  can  thrive  ;  and  this  leads  of  necessity  to  the  removal 
of  all  artificial  obstacles  which  can  be  opposed  either  to  the 
conclusion  of  marriages,  or  to  the  dissolution  of  those  for  which 
a  just  cause  is  shown. 

Among  the  most  foolish  contrivances  of  political  wisdom  or 
political  stupidity  are  the  obstacles  which  in  many  states  are 
still  opposed  to  marriages  in  the  lower  classes,  especially  the 
laboring  classes,  in  fear  of  over-population  or  the  increase  of 
poverty,  even  leaving  quite  out  of  consideration  the  fact  that  it 
implies  the  greatest  and  hardest  of  all  injustices  to  render  the 
unmerited  poverty  of  the  individual  still  harder  and  more  sen- 
sible by  seeking  to  shut  him  off  compulsorily  from  the  most 
natural  of  human  impulses,  that  of  the  propagation  of  his  kind. 
By  the  increase  of  its  numbers  a  people  becomes  not  poorer 
but  richer,  especially  where  improved  social  arrangements 
make  it  possible  for  every  one  to  lead  an  existence  worthy  of 
humanity  ;  and  every  new  born  human-being  is  a  capital  which 
benefits  the  whole  by  augmentation  of  the  power  both  of  work 
and  of  consumption.  The  less  populated  a  district  is,  the 
poorer  it  also  is  and  the  more  miserable  is  the  condition  of  its 
inhabitants  ;  whilst,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  European  civilized 
countries  the  general  degree  of  prosperity  has  everywhere  risen 
with  a  corresponding  increase  of  the  population.  For  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  by  the  increase  of  cultivation  and  its  in- 
numerable aids,  by  increased  division  of  labor  and  so  forth,  the 
general  capability  of  subsistence  increases  in  a  much  higher 
degree  than  the  number  of  people  ;  and  although  it  must  be 
admitted  that  under  normal  conditions  a  certain  limit  to  the 
number  of  the  population  cannot  be  overstepped,  we  are  still 
very  far  from  the  attainment  of  this  limit.     Great  famines  occur 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING?  253 

most  readily  in  thinly  peopled  regions,  or  in  such  as  have  been 
depopulated  by  war,  pestilence,  &c. ;  whilst  the  excess  of 
means  of  nourishment  is  nowhere  greater  than  in  the  enormous 
capitals  of  European  states,  in  which  millions  of  men  live  to- 
gether upon  one  spot.  When  the  Spaniards  conquered  Ameri- 
ca they  found  that  its  population  was  decimated  by  frequent 
famines; — at  the  present  day  America  furnishes  abundant 
nourishment  for  a  far  greater  number  of  inhabitants,  and  still 
possesses  space  and  food  enough  for  untold  millions  ! 


MORALS. 

THE  only  correct  and  tenable  moral  principle  depends  upon 
the  relation  oi  reciprocity .  There  is  therefore  no  better 
guide  to  moral  conduct  than  the  old  and  well-known  proverb  : 
"  What  you  would  not  have  done  to  you,  that  to  others  never 
do."  If  we  complete  this  proverb  with  the  addition  :  "  Do  to 
others  as  you  would  they  should  do  to  you,"  we  have  the 
entire  code  of  virtue  and  morals  in  hand,  and  indeed  in  a  better 
and  simpler  form  than  could  be  furnished  us  by  the  thickest 
manuals  of  ethics,  or  the  quintessence  of  all  the  religious  sys- 
tems in  the  world. 

All  other  moral  instructions  whether  derived  from  the  con- 
science, from  religion,  or  from  philosophy,  are  perfe6lly  super- 
fluous in  the  presence  of  these  simple  and  practical  rules.  Of 
course  these  rules  must  become  more  and  more  efficacious  the 
higher  the  condition  of  reciprocity  is  developed  by  the  greater 
advance  of  the  social  state,  and  the  more  the  individual,  by  in- 
telligence and  culture,  is  rendered  capable  of  comprehending 
the  objects  Of  society  and  his  personal  relation  thereto,  and  of 
arranging  his  conduct  accordingly.  It  is  therefore  a  generally 
recognized  fact,  and  moreover  sufficiently  proved  by  history,  that 
the  idea  of  morality  in  general  as  in  particular  cases  becomes 
further  and  more  strongly  developed  in  proportion  as  culture, 
intelligence  and  knowledge  of  the  necessary  laws  of  the  com- 
mon weal  increase,  and  that,  in  accordance  with  this,  greater 
public  order  has  always  gone  hand  in  hand  with  alleviation  of 
the  criminal  laws. 

(264) 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING  ?  255 

As  an  individual,  or  as  primitive  man,  man  is  entirely  unac- 
quainted with  morals,  and  blindly  follows  the  impulses  of  the 
passions,  the  hunger,  the  cruelty,  etc. ,  which  he  has  in  common 
with  the  animals.  His  moral  properties  are  only  developed  by 
living  together  with  others  in  a  society  regulated  by  certain 
principles  of  reciprocity,  and  by  the  knowledge  of  the  laws 
which  are  necessary  for  the  existence  of  such  a  community. 
The  innate  conscience  or  law  of  morals  which  so  many  regard 
as  the  true  determining  principle  in  the  actions  of  men,  is  noth- 
ing more  than  a  great  superstition,  an  "  Infant-school  morality," 
as  the  philosopher  Schopenhauer  so  significantly  expresses  it. 
For  the  conscience  is  formed  and  developed  only  with  the  pro- 
gressive knowledge  of  the  duties  which  the  individual  has  to 
fulfill,  or  thinks  he  must  fulfill  towards  imaginary  supernatural 
powers  (such  as  Gods,  Heroes,  etc.),  towards  his  fellow-men, 
towards  society,  the  state  and  so  forth.  This  belief,  however, 
is  entirely  dependent  on  the  grade  of  general  culture  or  knowl- 
edge at  which  a  people  or  an  individual  may  be  at  any  given 
time,  and  is  therefore  variable  according  to  time,  place  and  cir- 
cumstances. Moses,  the  greatest  teacher  and  leader  of  the 
Jewish  people,  felt  no  stings  of  conscience  when  he  allowed 
three  thousand  of  his  people  to  be  cut  to  pieces  as  a  propitiatory 
offering  to  the  Lord,  but  only  feared  that  they  would  not  be 
sufficient,  whilst  nowadays  such  a  proceeding  would  be  regarded 
as  inexpressibly  horrible  and  brutal  ;  and  the  honored  David, 
the  darling  of  all  theologians,  when  he  conquered  the  city  of 
Rabbah  (2  Sam.  XII.  31)  "brought  forth  the  people  that 
were  therein,  and  put  them  under  saws,  and  under  harrows  of 
iron,  and  under  axes  of  iron,  and  made  them  pass  through  the 
brick-kiln  :  and  thus  did  he  unto  all  the  cities  of  the  children 
ofAmmon"  —  (cited  in  Radenhausen,  Isis,  Band  II.  p.  34). 
The  Phoenicians,  Carthaginians,  Persians,  etc.,  although  be- 
longing to  the  civilized  nations  of  antiquity  were  not  deterred 
by  their  conscience  from  burning  their  own  children  alive  or 


256  MAN   IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

burying  living  innocent  men  ;  and  the  Inquisitors  of  the  Middle 
ages  and  their  associates  of  earlier  and  later  times  believed  that 
they  were  only  fulfilling  their  duty  in  burning  about  nine  mil- 
lions of  people  as  witches  and  magicians  in  the  course  of  eleven 
centuries,  and  making  so  many  other  innocent  people  suffer 
under  the  most  horrible  tortures.  When  the  Roman  emperors 
visited  the  newly  formed  Christian  communities  with  the  bloodi- 
est persecutions,  they  believed  that  they  were  doing  good,  and 
that  their  consciences  were  clear,  just  as  much  as  the  later 
Christians  themselves  when,  after  their  doctrine  had  become 
vi6lorious,  they  revisited  all  these  persecutions  and  outrages  in 
the  most  ample  measure  upon  those  who  thought  differently 
from  themselves.  The  murderous  wars  of  modern  times  also, 
arising  frequently  from  the  most  inconsiderable  causes,  are  gen- 
erally waged  by  people  who  feel  not  the  smallest  scruple  as  to 
the  terrible  death  and  misery  of  so  many  thousands  caused  by 
them,  and  who  win  by  them  fame,  honor  and  consideration, 
whilst  in  a  future  and  happier  time  such  proceedings  will  prob- 
ably be  regarded  as  the  gravest  moral  crimes. 

Conscience  is  therefore  nothing  established  and  innate,  but 
rather  something  variable  and  acquired,  or  an  expression  of 
human  knowledge  which  advances  with  knowledge  itself.  This 
advancing  knowledge  has  caused  the  recognition  of  many 
things  as  innocent  or  permissible  which  formerly  passed  as 
grave  sins,  and  on  the  other  hand  has  converted  many  things 
into  sins  or  crimes  which  formerly  were  not  so  regarded  ;  and 
hence  also  as  is  well  known  the  ideas  of  good  and  evil  present 
the  greatest  and  most  striking  differences,  nay  even  complete 
contradi6lions,  at  different  times  and  among  different  peoples, 
all  of  which  would  be  entirely  impossible  if  the  innate  conscience 
of  man  were  conferred  upon  him  as  an  internal  prescription 
binding  him  for  all  times.  Conscience  is  also  quite  independent 
of  the  belief  in  God  and  of  religious  conceptions  in  general ;  it 
changes  little,  if  at  all,    in  accordance  with  particular  creeds, 


WHERE   ARE   WE    GOING?  257 

but  merely  accommodates  itself  to  the  knowledge  or  degree  of 
culture  of  each  individual.  Hence  also  all  apprehension  that 
conscience  may  be  lost  with  some  determinate  form  of  faith  is 
entirely  unfounded  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  must  become  sharpened 
and  refined  the  more  the  general  conscience  of  mankind  is  ele- 
vated by  the  advance  of  culture,  ai.d  the  more  independent 
mankind  becomes  in  thought  and  being  of  all  merely  external 
rules  and  dogmas.  Indeed  the  men  of  the  present  day,  although 
their  attachment  to  definite  rules  of  faith  is  far  inferior  to  that 
of  the  men  of  former  times,  are  in  general  much  less  inclined 
than  formerly  to  crimes  and  acts  of  violence  ! —  and  tolerance, 
pity,  sense  of  the  public  good,  respect  for  law,  philanthropy, 
etc.,  have  increased  in  the  same  proportion  with  knowledge, 
culture  and  prosperity  !  Next  to  culture,  happiness  and  pros- 
perity are  the  main  sources  of  morality  and  virtue.  Man  must 
be  happy  in  his  general  condition  if  he  is  to  be  virtuous,  and  all 
sins  and  crimes  go  hand  in  hand  with  starvation,  misery,  dis- 
ease or  idleness.  If  we  add  to  this  that  moral  qualities  or  ten- 
dencies are  heritable,  just  as  much  as  corporeal  and  intelleilual 
tendencies  in  general,  it  must  become  clear  that  the  whole 
moral  progress  of  mankind  is  founded  upon  its  constant  social 
and  intelle6lual  change  and  advance,  and  that  sin  and  crime 
will  disappear  from  the  world  as  soon  as  the  springs  of  ignor- 
ance, want  of  culture  and  material  misery,  which  still  flow  so 
abundantly,  shall  be  stopped. 

Morality  may  therefore  be  defined  as  the  law  of  mutual  re- 
spect for  the  general  and  private  equal  rights  of  man,  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  general  human  happiness.  Every  thing 
that  injures  or  undermines  this  happiness  and  this  respect  is 
evil, —  every  thing  that  advances  them  is  good.  In  accordance 
with  this  definition,  evil  consists  only  in  degeneracy  or  the 
encroachment  of  human  and  private  egotism  upon  this  general 
happiness  and  the  interests  of  the  fellow  man.  What  is  bene- 
ficial to  the  community  or  to  the  fellow  man  is  in  general  good  ; 


258  MAN   IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

and  the  notion  of  good  only  becomes  converted  into  its  oppo- 
site by  the  individual  improperly  placing  the  notion  of  that 
which  is  beneficial  or  advantageous  to  himself  above  the  notion 
of  that  which  is  beneficial  to  the  community  or  to  another  per- 
son of  equal  rights  with  himself  The  greatest  sinners  therefore 
are  egotists,  or  those  who  place  their  own  /  higher  than  the  in- 
terests and  laws  of  the  common  weal,  and  endeavor  to  satisfy  it 
at  the  cost  and  to  the  injury  of  those  possessing  equal  rights. 
This  egotism  in  itself  is  indeed  not  objectionable,  and  really 
forms  the  final  and  highest  spring  of  all  our  actions  whether 
bad  or  good.*  Moreover  we  shall  never  be  able  to  get  rid  of 
the  egotism  of  human  nature,  and  therefore  all  that  we  have  to 
do  is  to  turn  it  into  the  right  paths  or  to  render  it  rational  and 
humane,  by  seeking  to  bring  its  satisfaction  into  accordance 
with  the  good  of  all  and  the  interest  of  the  community.  And 
for  this  purpose  there  can  be  no  better  means  than  the  reform 
of  human  society  in  the  interest  of  the  common  weal  proposed 
by  us.  For  as  soon  as,  by  a  proper  organization  of  society, 
things  have  been  brought  to  such  a  pass  that  the  satisfadlion 
of  the  personal  /  at  the  same  time  satisfies  the  interests  of 
the  community,  and  that  vice  versa  the  satisfaction  of  the  gen- 
eral interests  at  the  same  time  implies  the  satisfaction  of  the 
personal  I,  every  conflict  arising  from  egotistical  motives  be- 
tween the  interests  of  the  individual  and  those  of  the  Society 
or  of  the  State  will  cease,  and  the  principal  cause  of  crime 
and  sin  will  be  removed.  The  individual  will  then,  much 
more  easily  than  at  present,  be  able  to  strive  after  personal 
happiness  and  agreeable  sensations,  or  to  satisfy  his  personal 
/,  without  injury  to  the  interests  of  human  society  ;  he  will 
only  advance  his  own  well-being  when  he  furthers  that  of 
the  community,  and  will  advance  the  well-being  of  the  com- 
munity in  advancing  his  own. 

In  this  accordance  of  the  interests  of  the  individual  with  the 
*  See  Appendix  No.  52. 


WHERE    ARE   WE   GOING?  259 

interests  of  the  community  or  of  all  others,  therefore,  lies  the 
whole,  great  moral  principle  of  the  future.  Let  this  accord- 
ance be  once  established  and  we  have  morality,  virtue  and 
noble  sentiments  in  profusion.  If  not,  these  will  be  deficient 
in  proportion  as  society  falls  short  of  this  goal,  and  no  exter- 
nal or  internal  means,  no  religion,  no  moral  preachers,  no  crim- 
inal laws,  will  be  able  by  any  means  permanently  to  make  up 
for  this  deficiency.  Public  conscience  is  at  the  same  time  the 
conscience  of  the  individual ;  this  public  conscience  can  only  be 
the  consequence  of  rational  political  and  social  conditions  and 
of  an  education  and  culture  of  all,  founded  on  the  principles  of 
universal  philanthrophy.  It  is  in  youth  with  its  capability  of 
education  and  culture  and  its  ready  accessibility  to  all  external 
and  internal  impressions  that  the  foundation  for  the  culture  of 
this  conscience  and  therefore  of  all  morality  must  be  laid  ;  and 
it  must  be  the  highest  task  of  public  and  general  education  to 
waken  and  strengthen  in  the  young  those  impulses  and  talents 
which  are  good  and  beneficial  to  human  society,  and  to  weaken 
and  suppress  the  bad  and  injurious  ones.  In  this  way  a  per- 
fe6lly  new  race  with  a  different  moral  organization  will  gradually 
be  produced  ;  and  crime,  sin,  vice  and  the  like  will  disappear 
in  proportion  as  the  soil  shall  become  smaller  upon  which  alone 
they  can  thrive  ! 


RELIGION. 

THE  less  man  knows  of  history,  of  nature,  of  philosophy 
and  so  forth,  the  more,  when  he  has  once  begun  to 
meditate  upon  himself  and  the  phenomena  surrounding  him, 
does  he  feel  induced  to  believe  in  unknown  supernatural  and 
superhuman  influences,  and  to  ascribe  to  them  everything  that 
appears  to  him  mysterious  in  the  life  of  nature  and  of  man. 
Hence  the  more  religious  a  man  is,  the  less  does  he  feel  in 
himself  the  necessity  for  culture  and  knowledge ;  and  the 
ancient  Hebrews  therefore  could  not  develop  among  them 
arts  and  sciences  in  the  same  way  as  the  more  free-thinking 
Greeks,  because  with  them  their  God  Jehovah  supplied  every- 
thing. Nations  commenced  with  the  crudest  superstitions 
springing  from  a  deficiency  or  entire  absence  of  knowledge  of 
the  laws  of  nature,  and  have  risen  gradually  and  slowly  from 
this  to  that  knowledge  which  is  destined  hereafter  to  replace 
and  render  unnecessary  every  kind  of  religion.  Those  who  see 
in  such  an  abolition  of  religion  or  in  a  replacement  of  faith  by 
knowledge,  danger  to  morality  and  virtue  and  consequently  to 
the  state  and  to  society,  must  be  taught  that  morals  and  re- 
ligion, or  faith  and  virtue,  have  originally  and  in  principle 
nothing  to  do  with  each  other,  and  have  probably  been  com- 
mingled only  in  the  course  of  history  and  for  reasons  of  external 
expediency.  For  the  higher  we  ascend  in  the  history  of  re- 
ligion, the  more  do  we  find  that  the  moral  law  and  the  priest- 
hood watching  over  its  maintenance  disappear  from  the  scene, 

(260) 


WHERE    ARE    WE    GOING?  26l 

whilst  their  place  is  taken  by  dogma  and  external  worship,   or 
ceremonies  in  honor  of  the  Deity. 

The  most  recent  investigations  of  Renan,  Bournouf  and  others 
place  it  beyond  a  doubt  that  among  the  Aryan  nations  morality 
never  was  an  integral  or  necessary  ingredient  in  religion,  but 
that  in  their  ancient  religions  only  two  elements  are  to  be  met 
with,  namely,  the  idea  of  God  and  the  ritual.  This  is  also  the 
case  with  the  priesthood  among  the  Aryans,  whose  original 
religious  tendency  was  a  decided  pantheism  ;  whilst  in  opposi- 
tion to  this  the  religious  tendency  of  the  Semites  (from  which 
Christianity  has  proceeded)  was  inojiothcism,  and  was  under  the 
charge  of  a  powerful  priesthood.  In  the  whole  Sanscrit  language, 
the  classical  primitive  language  of  the  Aryan  race  of  men,  there 
is  no  single  word  which  signifies  "to  create"  in  the  sense  of 
the  Semitic  or  Christian  dogma.  Moreover,  as  Goethe  has 
already  shown,  the  celebrated  Mosaic  moral  precepts,  the  so- 
called  ten  Commandments,  were  not  upon  the  tables  upon 
which  Moses  wrote  the  laws  of  the  covenant  which  God  made 
with  his  people. 

Even  the  extraordinary  diversity  of  the  many  religions  diffused 
over  the  surface  of  the  earth  suffices  to  show  that  they  can  stand 
in  no  necessary  connexion  with  morals,  as  it  is  well-known 
that  wherever  tolerably  well-ordered  political  and  social  condi- 
tions exist,  the  moral  precepts  in  their  essential  principles  are 
the  same,  whilst  when  such  conditions  are  wanting,  a  wild  and 
irregular  confusion  or  even  an  entire  deficiency  of  moral  notions 
is  met  with.*  History  also  shows  incontrovertibly  that  religion 
and  morality  have  by  no  means  gone  hand  in  hand  in  strength 
and  development,  but  that  even  contrariwise  the  most  religious 
times  and  countries  have  produced  the  greatest  number  of 
crimes  and  sins  against  the  laws  of  morality,  and  indeed,  as 

*  In  China  where  people  are,  as  is  well-known,  very  indifferent  or  tolerant  in 
religious  matters,  this  fine  proverb  is  current :  —  "  Religions  are  various,  but 
reason  is  one,  and  we  are  all  brothers." 


262  MAN    IN    THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

daily  experience  teaches,  still  produce  them.  The  history  of 
nearly  all  religions  is  filled  with  such  horrible  abominations, 
massacres  and  boundless  wickedness  of  every  kind  that  at  the 
mere  recollection  of  them  the  heart  of  a  philanthropist  seems  to 
stand  still,  and  we  turn  with  disgust  and  horror  from  a  mental 
aberration  which  could  produce  such  deeds.  If  it  is  urged  in 
vindication  of  religion  that  it  has  advanced  and  elevated  human 
civilization,  even  this  merit  appears  very  doubtful  in  presence 
of  the  facts  of  history,  and  at  least  as  very  rarely  or  isolatedly 
the  case.  In  general,  however,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  most 
systems  of  religions  have  proved  rather  inimical  than  friendly 
to  civilization.  For  religion,  as  already  stated,  tolerates  no 
doubt,  no  discussion,  no  contradiction,  no  investigations — those 
eternal  pioneers  of  the  future  of  science  and  intelledl:  !  Even 
the  simple  circumstance,  that  our  present  state  of  culture  has 
already  long  since  left  far  behind  it  all  and  even  the  highest  in- 
tellectual ideas  established  and  elaborated  by  former  religions, 
may  show  how  little  intelleClual  progress  is  influenced  by  re- 
ligion. Mankind  is  perpetually  being  thrown  to  and  fro  be- 
tween science  and  religion,  but  it  advances  more  intellectually, 
morally  and  physically  in  proportion  as  it  turns  away  from  re- 
ligion and  to  science. 

It  is  therefore  clear  that  for  our  present  age  and  for  the  future, 
a  foundation  must  be  sought  and  found  for  culture  and  morality 
different  from  that  which  can  be  furnished  to  us  by  religion.  It 
is  not  the  fear  of  God  that  acts  ameliorating! y  or  ennoblingly 
upon  manners,  of  which  the  middle  ages  furnish  us  with  a 
striking  proof ;  but  the  ennobling  of  the  conception  of  the  world 
in  general  which  goes  hand  in  hand  with  the  advance  of  civili- 
zation. Let  us  then  give  up  making  a  show  of  the  profession 
of  hypocritical  words  of  faith,  the  only  purpose  of  which  seems 
to  be  that  they  may  be  continually  shown  to  be  lies  by  the  ac- 
tions and  deeds  of  their  professors  !  The  man  of  the  future 
will  feel  far  more  happy  and  contented  when  he  has  not  to  con- 


WHERE    ARE   WE    GOING?  263 

tend  at  every  step  of  his  intellectual  forward  development  with 
those  tormenting  contradictions  between  knowledge  and  faith 
which  plague  his  youth,  and  occupy  his  mature  age  unnecessari- 
ly with  the  slow  renunciation  of  the  notions  which  he  imbibed 
in  his  youth.  What  we  sacrifice  to  God,  we  take  away  from 
mankind,  and  absorb  a  great  part  of  his  best  intellectual  powers 
in  the  pursuit  of  an  unattainable  goal.  At  any  rate,  the  least 
that  we  can  expeCl  in  this  respect  from  the  state  and  society  of 
the  future  is  a  complete  separation  between  ecclesiastical  and 
worldly  affairs,  or  an  absolute  emancipation  of  the  State  and 
the  school  from  every  ecclesiastical  influence.  Education  must 
be  founded  upon  knozvledge,  not  upon  faith  ;  and  religion  itself 
should  be  taught  in  the  public  schools  only  as  religious  history, 
and  as  an  objeCtive  or  scientific  exposition  of  the  different  re- 
ligious systems  prevailing  among  mankind.  Any  one  who, 
after  such  an  education,  still  experiences  the  need  of  a  definite 
law  or  rule  of  faith  may  then  attach  himself  to  any  religious 
sect  that  may  seem  good  to  him,  but  cannot  claim  that  the 
community  should  bear  the  cost  of  this  special  fancy  ! 

As  regards  Christianity,   or  the   Pau/hiism^  which  is  falsely 

*  Jesus  or  Jeshua,  called  Christ,  was  not  and  did  not  desire  to  be  the  founder 
of  a  new  religion  and  least  of  all  of  a  world-religion,  although  millions  and 
millions  of  men  have  regarded  and  still  regard  him  as  such.  He  was  merely  a 
Jewish  religious  reformer,  and  his  original  doctrine  is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
an  improved  and  purified  Judaism.  His  whole  efforts  were  in  the  direction  of 
the  religious  sect  of  the  Essenes,  from  which  he  arose,  and  were  directed  to  get 
rid  of,  or  repress  those  externals  which  were  then  so  highly  valued  and  to  render 
religion  more  internal.  Moreover  after  the  death  of  Jesus  the  first  community  of 
Christians  still  lived  quite  in  the  Jewish  fashion,  observed  the  Sabbath  and  the 
Jewish  laws,  practised  circumcision  and  respected  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple.  It 
was  Saul  of  Tarsus,  afterwards  called  Paul,  originally  the  most  zealous  persecutor 
of  the  Jewish  Christians,  but  afterwards  converted,  who  first  made  out  of  Chris- 
tianity an  opposition  to  Judaism  and  gave  it  great  extension  by  his  travels  and 
indefatigable  activity.  Nevertheless  the  original  pure  doctrine  was  continued 
among  the  Jewish  Christians  as  what  is  called  Petrinism,  which  remained  strictly 
faithful  to  the  teachings  of  the  master,  but  very  soon  came  near  its  end  with 
the  fall  of  Judaism,  and  was  completely  suppressed  by  the  gradually  developing 
Paulinism  or  religion  of  the  Gentile  Christians^  who  hated  and  despised  the  Jews 
and  their  doctrine.  This  Paulinism  speedily  ruled  the  world.  Paul  is  therefore 
the  true  founder  of  Christianity.  (See  for  details  the  little  work  by  R.  W.  Kunis: 
Vernun/t  und  Offenbarung,  Leipzii^,  1870.) 


264  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

called  Christianity,  it  stands,  by  its  dogmatic  portion  or  con- 
tents in  such  striking  and  irreconcilable,  nay,  absolutely  absurd 
contradi6lion  with  all  the  acquisitions  and  principles  of  modern 
science  that  its  future  tragical  fate  can  only  be  a  question  of 
time.  But  even  its  ethical  contents  or  its  moral  principles  are 
in  no  way  essentially  distinguished  above  those  of  other  peo- 
ples, and  were  equally  well  and  in  part  better  known  to  man- 
kind even  before  its  appearance.  Not  only  in  this  respect,  but 
also  in  its  supposed  character  as  the  world-religioii?^  it  is  ex- 
celled by  the  much  older  and  probably  most  widely  diffused 
religious  system  in  the  world,  the  celebrated  BiiddJiism,  which 
recognizes  neither  the  idea  of  a  personal  God,  nor  that  of  a 
personal  duration,  and  nevertheless  teaches  an  extremely  pure, 
amiable  and  even  ascetic  morality.  The  doctrine  of  Zoroaster 
or  Zarathrustra  also,  1800  years  B.  C,  taught  the  principles  of 
humanity  and  toleration  for  those  of  different  modes  of  thinking 
in  a  manner  and  purity  which  were  unknown  to  the  Semitic 
religions  and  especially  to  Christianity.  Christianity  originated 
and  spread  as  is  well-known  at  the  time  of  a  general  decline  of 
manners,  and  of  very  great  moral  and  national  corruption  ;  and 
its  extraordinary  success  must  be  partly  explained  by  the  prev- 

*  Christianity  is  not  a  world-religion,  although  this  is  always  estimated  one  of 
its  chief  merits.  Thus,  for  example,  it  does  not  suit  the  East  and  makes  no 
progress  there  at  all,  notwithstanding  the  greatest  efforts  of  the  missionaries, 
presenting  in  this  a  striking  contrast  to  Islamism.  The  latter  is  constantly 
diffusing  itself  through  Asia  and  Africa  and  is  peculiarly  a  religion  for  nomadic 
and  seminomadic  tribes.  Nearly  half  of  Asia  has  gradually  accepted  Islamism, 
although  no  more  can  be  said  in  its  favor  than  in  favor  of  Christianity  as  regards 
the  advancement  of  civilization.  The  fathers  of  Islam  themselves,  the  Arabs,  are 
deeply  depressed  by  it  and  have  exchanged  the  former  bravery,  wisdom  and  noble 
or  knightly  sentiments  of  the  pagan  times  for  indolence  and  stolen  enjoyments. 
Its  character  as  a  world-religion  and  its  supposed  preeminence  over  all  religions 
is  also  belied  by  Christianity  when,  as  in  Persia,  it  is  insinuated  in  isolated  pro- 
fessors among  other  systems  of  culture  and  religion.  Thus  Count  Gobineau 
reports,  {Les  Religions  et  ies  Philosophies  de  I'Asia  ccntrale,  Paris,  iS66,)  that 
Christians  in  Persia,  whether  Catholics  or  schismatics  and  heretics,  possess  all 
the  vices  of  the  Mussulman  and  are  distinguished  from  him  only  by  greater 
ignorance,  more  superstition  and  a  profound  disclination  for  progress  or  for  any 
mental  effort.  On  the  other  hand  freethinkers  are  numerous  and  cultivated  in 
Persia 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING?  265 

alence  of  a  sort  of  intelledual  and  moral  disease,  which  had 
overpowered  the  spirits  of  men  after  the  fall  of  the  ancient  civil- 
ization and  under  the  demoralizing  influence  of  the  gradual 
collapse  of  the  great  Roman  empire.  But  even  at  that  time 
those  who  stood  intellectually  high  and  looked  deeply  into 
things,  recognized  the  whole  danger  of  this  new  turn  of  mind, 
and  it  is  very  remarkable  that  the  best  and  most  benevolent  of 
the  Roman  emperors,  such  as  Marcus  Aurelius,  Julian,  etc., 
were  the  most  zealous  persecutors  of  Christianity,  whilst  it  was 
tolerated  by  the  bad  ones,  such  as  Commodus,  Heliogabalus, 
etc.*  When  it  had  gradually  attained  the  superiority,  one  of 
its  first  sins  against  the  intelledual  progress  consisted  in  the 
destrudion  by  Christian  fanaticism  of  the  celebrated  Library  of 
Alexandria,  which  contained  all  the  intelledual  treasures  of  an- 
tiquity,—  an  incalculable  loss  to  science,  which  can  never  be 
replaced.  It  is  usually  asserted  in  praise  of  Christianity  that  in 
the  middle  ages  the  Christian  monasteries  were  the  preservers 
of  science  and  literature,  but  even  this  is  correct  only  in  a  very 
limited  sense,  since  boundless  ignorance  and  rudeness  generally 
prevailed  in  the  monasteries,  and  innumerable  ecclesiastics  could 
not  even  read.  Valuable  literary  treasures  on  parchment  con- 
tained in  the  libraries  of  the  monasteries  were  destroyed,  the 
monks  when  they  wanted  money  selling  the  books  as  parch- 

*  To  the  Romans,  with  their  classical  culture,  the  Jews  and  Christians  appeared 
to  be  atheisls;  for  to  imagine  a  simple  Deity,  incapable  of  being  pictured  or  felt, 
seemed  to  them  to  be  a  denying  of  God  or  a  dark  doctrine  deprived  of  God.' 
The  old  idolatry  was  picturesque,  full  of  life  and  beautiful,  and  its  feasts  were 
feasts  of  joy  and  sociability.  The  monotheistic  religions,  (Judaism,  Christianity, 
Islam,)  are  generally  zelotic  and  intolerant  and  therefore  inimical  to  progress^ 
culture  and  the  sciences;  whilst  in  paganism  and  polytheism  there  is  an  infinite 
expansiveness  and  tolerance.  The  Greeks  and  Romans  saw  in  the  Deities  of 
other  peoples  only  their  own  over  again,  and  therefore  never  thought  of  religious 
persecution.  Nevertheless  it  cannot  be  denied  that  in  a  special  religious  point  of 
view  Christianity  must  be  regarded  as  an  advance  upon  heathendom  with  its 
absurd  sacrificial  services,  inasmuch  as  it  rendered  the  belief  in  God  more  internal 
and  intellectual.  But  the  crude  sensualistic  conception,  which  soon  overpowered 
Christianity  in  the  course  of  its  historical  development,  renders  even  this  merit 
doubtful,  and  certainly  gives  its  defenders  no  right  to  declaim  against  scientific 
materialism. 


266  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT.    AND    FUTURE. 

ment,  or  tearing  out  the  leaves  and  writing  psalms  upon  them. 
Frequently  they  entirely  effaced  the  ancient  classics,  to  make 
room  for  their  foolish  legends  and  homilies  ;  nay,  the  reading 
of  the  classics,  such  as  Aristotle  for  example,  was  directly  for- 
bidden by  papal  decrees. 

In  New  Spain  christian  fanaticism  immediately  destroyed 
whatever  of  arts  and  civilization  existed  among  the  natives, 
and  that  this  was  not  inconsiderable  is  shown  by  the  numerous 
monuments  now  in  ruins  which  place  beyond  a  doubt  the  for- 
mer existence  of  a  tolerably  high  degree  of  culture.  But  in  the 
place  of  this  not  a  trace  of  Christian  civilization  is  now  to  be 
observed  among  the  existing  Indians,  and  the  resident  catholic 
clergy  keep  the  Indians  purposely  in  a  state  of  the  greatest 
ignorance  and  stupidity  (see  Richthofen,  Die  ZustcEnde  der  Re- 
public Mexico,  Berlin,  1854). 

Thus  Christianity  has  always  acted  consistently  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  of  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church,  Tertul- 
lian,  who  says  :  ' '  Desire  of  knowledge  is  no  longer  necessary 
since  Jesus  Christ,  nor  is  investigation  necessary  since  the 
Gospel."  If  the  civilization  of  the  European  and  especially  of 
Christian  nations  has  notwithstanding  made  such  enormous 
progress  in  the  course  of  centuries,  an  unprejudiced  considera- 
tion of  history  can  only  tell  us  that  this  has  taken  place  not  by 
meaiis  of  Christianity,  but  in  spite  of  it.  And  this  is  a  sufficient 
indication  to  what  an  extent  this  civilization  must  still  be  ca- 
pable of  development  when  once  it  shall  be  completely  freed 
from  the  narrow  bounds  of  old  superstitions  and  religious  em- 
barrassments ! 


PHILOSOPHY. 

JUST  as  the  religions  of  the  past  have  become  out  of  date  in 
our  time,  so  also  in  no  less  degree  has  the  true  or  specu- 
lative philosophy,  which  has  unfortunately,  especially  in  Ger- 
many, so  long  exerted  an  injurious  influence  upon  the  minds 
of  men,  and  one  prejudicial  to  the  true,  free  spirit  of  inquiry. 
Its  play  with  half-clear,  obscure  or  perfectly  meaningless  words 
or  phrases  has  gradually  caused  it  to  be  detested  by  the  edu- 
cated,* and  the  belief  in  its  formulas  and  predictions  has  disap- 
peared in  the  same  measure  that  the  spirit  of  inquiry  has  become 
clearer,  more  thirsty  for  knowledge  and  more  candid.  We  are 
now  no  longer  inclined  to  take  appearance  for  being,  words  for 
acts,  or  imagination  for  reality  ;  and  have  perceived  that  it  is 
only  in  scientific  observation  and  in  facts  that  we  can  seek  and 
find  a  firm  footing  for  philosophical  theories.  ' '  The  empty 
twaddle  of  kS"(?w  and  iVzr/z/y, "  as  B.  Suhle  (A.  Schopenhauer 
and  the  Pliilosophy  of  the  present  day)  admirably  designates 
that  so-called  diale6lic  method  of  the  philosophers  by  profes- 
sion which  was  dominant  in  the  first  half  of  the  present  century, 
and  attained  its  climax  in  the  great  Hegel, — that  "  Deluge  of 
words  poured  over  a  desert  of  ideas  ' '  as  Helvetius  so  suitably 
described  the  results  of  the  scholastic  philosophy  of  the  middle 

*  Since  the  times  of  Scholasticism,  nay  properly  speaking  since  the  times  of 
Plato  and  Aristotle,  philosophy  has  been  for  the  most  part  as  Schopenhauer 
admirably  expresses  it  a  continual  misapplication  of  general  ideas  carried  too/ar 
such  as  "substance,"  "basis,"  "cause,"  "the  good,"  "being,"  "becoming,"  etc, 
etc.,  and  has  thus  gradually  sunk  into  a  mere  affair  of  words. 

(267) 


268  MAN    IN    THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

ages  which  is  still  far  from  being  extinct,  no  longer  imposes 
upon  us  ;  we  have  looked  behind  the  veil  of  the  mystery  and 
found  nothing  there  except  the  effete  skeleton  of  philosophical 
emptiness  of  spirit  and  thought,  clothed  with  the  motley  rags 
of  a  philosophical  terminology  or  mode  of  expression.  There 
is  not  now  and  never  was  or  will  be  a  possibility  of  enlarging 
human  knowledge  beyond  experience,  or  human  philosophy 
beyond  the  conclusions  drawn  from  experience. 

The  lofty  intellectual  flights  of  the  professors  of  Philosophy, 
which  have  hitherto  been  universally  esteemed  as  the  highest, 
are  therefore  simply  absurd,  and  the  air  of  superiority  of  the 
philosophical  metaphysicians  reminds  one  of  the  proverb  : 
"From  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous  there  is  but  a  step" 
(Suhle).  All  deductions  from  the  transcendental,  or  from 
what  flies  beyond  observation,  are  illogical  ;  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  the  so-called  transcendental  science  nor  are  there  any 
causeless  causes  :  hence  the  search  of  the  philosophers  after  a 
first  or  supreme  cause  is  entirely  futile.  Causal  connection  or 
the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  has  neither  beginning  nor  end. 
The  necessary  consequence  of  a  First  cause  is  the  irrational  as- 
sumption, equally  contradictory  to  logic  and  observation,  that 
the  history  of  existence  must  consist  of  two  different  or  separated 
parts,  the  first  of  which  would  be  change  7vithout  causality  and 
the  second  change  with  causality.  Every  thing  in  the  world  is 
necessarily  and  normally  connected,  an  opinion,  the  stability  of 
which,  however,  we  are  in  a  position  to  demonstrate  directly 
only  in  a  number  of  cases  in  the  actual  world.  Hence  our 
knowledge  is  fragmentary  and  not  only  capable  of  but  actually 
calling  for  improvement  and  completion  ;  whilst  the  philosophi- 
cal error  seeks  to  parade  before  us  "  unlimited  knowledge." 
We  must  therefore  endeavor  to  form  convictions  which  are  not 
to  stand  once  and  for  all,  as  philosophers  and  theologians  usu- 
ally do,  but  such  as  may  change  and  become  improved  with 
the  advance  of  knowledge.     Whoever  does  not  recognize  this 


WHERE    ARE    WE    GOING?  269 

and  gives  himself  up  once  lor  all  to  a  belief  which  he  regards  as 
final  truth,  whether  it  be  of  a  theological  or  philosophical  kind, 
is  of  course  incapable  of  accepting  a  conviction  supported  upon 
scientific  grounds.  Unfortunately  our  whole  education  is 
founded  upon  an  early  systematic  curbing  and  fettering  of  the 
intellect  in  the  direction  of  dogmatic  (philosophical  or  theologi- 
cal) doctrines  of  faith,  and  only  a  comparatively  small  number 
of  strong  minds  succeed  in  after  years  in  freeing  themselves  by 
their  own  powers  from  these  fetters,  whilst  the  majority  remain 
captive  in  the  accustomed  bonds,  and  form  their  judgment  in 
accordance  with  the  celebrated  saying  of  Bishop  Berkeley  : 
"  Few  men  think;  but  all  will  have  opinions!"  Hence  the 
numerous  distorted  or  condemnatory  opinions  expressed  as  to 
recent  advances  in  science,  although  the  latter  may  be  as  clear 
as  the  sun  and  as  indisputable  as  truth  itself !  Great  philoso- 
phers have  called  death  the  fundamental  cause  of  all  philosophy. 
If  this  be  correct,  the  empirical  or  experimental  philosophy  of 
the  present  day  has  solved  the  greatest  of  philosophical  enig- 
mas-and  shown  (both  logically  and  empirically)  that  there  is 
no  death,  and  that  the  great  mystery  of  existence  consists  in 
perpetual  and  uninterrupted  change.  Every  thing  is  immortal 
and  indestructible, —  the  smallest  worm  as  well  as  the  most 
enormous  of  the  celestial  bodies, —  the  sandgrain  or  the  water- 
drop  as  well  as  the  highest  being  in  creation  —  man  and  his 
thoughts.  Only  the  forms  in  which  being  manifests  itself  are 
changing  ;  but  Being  itself  remains  eternally  the  same  and  im- 
perisb.able.  When  we  die  we  do  not  lose  ourselves,  but  only 
our  personal  consciousness  or  the  casual  form  which  our  being, 
in  itself  eternal  and  imperishable,  had  assumed  for  a  short 
time  ;  we  live  on  in  nature,  in  our  race,  in  our  children,  in  our 
descendants,  in  our  deeds,  in  our  thoughts, —  in  short,  in  the 
entire  material  and  psychical  contribution  which,  during  our 
short  personal  existence,  we  have  furnished  to  the  subsistence 
of  mankind  and   of  nature  in   general.      "Humanity,"    says 


270  MAN    IN   THE   PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

Radenhausen  (^/sts,  Band  III.,  p.  121),  "persists  and  flows  on 
although  the  individual  disappears  after  a  short  course  of  life  ; 
but  neither  his  life,  nor  that  of  the  water-drop  is  lost.  For  just 
as  the  latter  could  not  complete  its  circulation  without  dissolving 
or  superinducing  the  combinations  of  other  matters,  so  every 
man  leaves  the  traces  of  his  existence  behind  him  in  what  he 
separated  or  brought  into  new  combinations,  in  the  contribution 
to  the  culture  treasure  of  humanity,  which  is  furnished  by  every 
human  life,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest." 

Where  are  the  dead  ?  asks  Schopenhauer  ;  and  he  answers  : 
They  are  with  us  !  In  spite  of  death  and  corruption  we  are 
still  all  together  ! 


Drum  streitet,  Thoren,  ferner  nicht, 
Ob  Ihr  im  Geist  unsterblich  seid  ! 
Denn  keines  Todes  Macht  zerbricht 
Der  Dinge  Unverganglichkeit, 
Die  Alles  was  da  ist  und  lebt, 
In  einem  ew'gen  Kreise  fiihrt 
Und,  wo  sie  zur  Vernichtung  strebt. 
Die  Flammen  neuen  Lebens  schiirt ! 
Unsterblich  ist  der  kleinste  Wurm, 
Unsterblich  auch  des  Menschen  Geist, 
Den  jeder  neue  Todessturm 
In  immer  neue  Bahnen  reisst ! 
So  lebet  Ihr,  gestorben  auch, 
In  kiinftigen  Geschlechtern  fort, 
Und  dieser  ewige  Gebrauch 
Verwechselt  nichts  als  Zeit  und  Ort ! 


Just  as  no  single  atom  or  smallest  conceivable  particle  of 
matter  can  disappear  or  be  destroyed  in  the  life  of  nature  in 
general,  so  not  the  smallest  deed  or  most  insignificant  thought 
of  a  man  can  perish  or  be  lost  in  the  general  life  of  mankind. 
For  both  propagate  themselves  in  unending  sequence,  by  virtue 
of  the  impulse  given  by  them,  just  as  the  oscillations  of  the 
surface  of  a  piece  of  water  produced  by  a  falling  stone  vibrate 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING?  271 

onwards  in  constantly  larger  and  weaker  circles.  And  although 
this  movement  itself  must  by  degrees  be  lost  or  come  to  rest 
just  like  these  oscillations,  it  has  in  the  meanwhile  set  free  a 
certain  number  of  other  (physical  or  intelle6lual)  movements, 
which  on  their  part  renew  and  continue  the  same  action.  Thus 
the  life  of  the  individual  is  at  the  same  time  the  life  of  humanity, 
and  the  life  of  humanity  that  of  the  individual  !  Whoever  can- 
not or  will  not  allow  this  great  truth  to  suffice  for  him,  whoever 
is  unable  to  find  in  it  a  sufficient  impulse  to  virtue  and  honesty, 
will  also  be  incapable  of  being  kept  permanently  in  the  right 
path  by  any  external  force  or  agency.  Neither  philosophical 
nor  religious  creeds  are  capable  of  furnishing  even  distantly  an 
equivalent  for  it,  or  of  replacing  by  means  of  their  mixed  ego- 
tistical and  imaginary  motives  that  firm  moral  position  which 
the  individual  must  attain  by  the  recognition  of  the  imperish- 
ableness  of  his  being  in  connection  with  humanity  at  large. 


MATERIALISM  AND    IDEALISM. 


MATERIALISM  and  idealism  are  usually  regarded  as  ab- 
solute opposites.  Materialism  is  represented  as  a  miser- 
able, comfortless,  hopeless,  sad  and  empty  theory,  only  fit  for 
hypochondriacs,  misanthropes  or  pure  rationalists  ;  whilst  in 
opposition  to  this  the  so-called  idealism  professes  to  satisfy  the 
higher  intellectual  and  spiritual  necessities  of  man  and  to  raise 
him,  by  a  higher  conception  of  the  world  and  of  life,  above  the 
deficiencies  and  nothingnesses  of  this  earthly  life.  In  truth, 
however,  this  is  so  incorrect  that  the  Materialism  of  Science 
may  rather  with  perfect  justice  be  described  as  the  highest 
idealism  of  life.  For  (and  the  author  has  already  elsewhere 
discussed  this  more  in  detail)  the  more  we  free  ourselves  from 
all  delusive  imaginations  of  a  world  above  us  and  outside  of  us, 
or  of  a  so-called  Future,  the  more  do  we  find  ourselves  naturally 
directed  with  all  our  forces  and  endeavors  to  the  present,  or  to 
the  world  in  which  we  are  living,  and  feel  the  necessity  of  ar- 
ranging this  world  and  our  life  as  beautifully  and  advanta- 
geously as  possible  both  for  the  individual  and  for  the  whole.  It 
is  clear  that  thus  a  perfectly  immeasurable  field  of  e.xertion  and 
action  is  opened  up  for  the  idealism  or  the  idealistic  striving  of 
human  nature,  —  a  field,  it  is  true,  which  no  longer  lies  beyond 
the  stars,  but  under  our  feet,  and  sets  reaUty  in  place  of  imagina- 
tion. There  are  consequently  no  more  zealous  pioneers  of 
progress,  no  greater  friends  of  freedom  and  no  more  spirited 
defenders  of  the  general  equality  of  mankind  in  rights  and  hap- 
piness than  the  materialists  and  free-thinkers.     Their  faith  (for 

(272) 


WHERE   ARE   WE   GOING  ?  273 

even  the  materialists  have  a  faith)  is  that  man  is  better  than  he 
seems,  that  he  can  do  more  than  he  thinks,  and  that  he  de- 
serves to  be  happier  than  he  is.  Heaven  and  hell,  those  pri- 
meval bugbears  of  spiritual  despotism,  exist  also  for  the  ma- 
terialist ;  but  he  seeks  and  finds  them,  not,  as  of  old,  outside 
of  man,  but  within  him,  and  shows  that  it  depends  solely  upon 
man  himself  and  his  conduct,  whether  he  shall  have  a  heaven 
or  a  hell  upon  earth  ! 

This  striving  for  human  perfection,  or  for  earthly  improve- 
ment and  felicity,  has  given  rise  to  the  further  objection  to  ma- 
terialism, that  its  sole  object  is  sensual  satisfaction  and  enjoy- 
ment, and  that  therefore,  in  the  satisfaction  of  the  mere  animal 
impulses,  it  neglects  the  higher  spiritual  needs  of  man,  the  in- 
terests of  his  soul.  This  objection  rests  upon  so  absurd  and 
evident  a  confusion  of  scientific  or  theoretical  materialism,  with 
practical  materialism  or  the  materialism  of  life,  that  it  scarcely 
deserves  serious  refutation.  The  materialism  of  science  and 
the  materialism  of  life  are  things  which  differ  ioto  coelo,  and 
which  can  be  confounded  with  each  other  only  by  malevolence 
or  incompetency.  Whoever  sacrifices  his  life  to  investigation, 
his  personal  interest  to  the  truth,  and  the  force  of  his  activity 
to  the  improvement  of  the  lot  of  humanity,  has  no  leisure  to 
run  after  sensual  enjoyments,  and  is  in  reality  a  far  greater 
idealist  than  those  who  find  in  their  idealism  a  means  of  ob- 
taining great  offices,  fat  livings,  rich  salaries  or  brilliant  dis- 
tinctions. But  even  should  materialism,  when  more  widely 
diffused  among  mankind,  contribute  (except  among  its  scientific 
supporters)  to  strengthen  the  striving  after  the  enjoyments  of 
this  world,  which  indeed  is  already  sufficiently  strong,  this  could 
only  be  greeted  with  satisfaction  in  the  interests  of  progress, — 
always  supposing  that  the  kind  of  enjoyment  was  such,  in  the 
sense  of  the  scientifico-materialistic  conception  of  the  universe, 
as  did  not  merely  satisfy  the  gross  and  animal  impulses,  but  at 
the  same  time  acted  ennoblingly  upon  the  body  and  mind. 


274  MAN    IN   THE    PAST,    PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

By  this  means  we  should  again  approach  that  cheerful  and  joy- 
ous conception  of  the  Universe  which  was  held  by  classical  an- 
tiquity, from  which  we  have  been  unfortunately  carried  faraway 
by  monkery  and  ecclesiastical  greed  of  power  ;  and  those  in- 
numerable and  immense  aids  to  civilization,  which  we  have  and 
the  ancients  did  not  possess,  would  incalculably  facilitate,  in- 
crease and  ennoble  our  enjoyments. 

All  this  shows  that  materialism  and  idealism  are  not,  as  so 
many  suppose,  born  enemies,  but  that  at  the  bottom  they  are 
only  different  expressions  for  one  and  the  same  thing.  In 
theory,  materialism  far  exceeds  the  old  idealistic  philosophy  in 
ideal  value,  inasmuch  as  it  does  not,  like  the  latter,  assume  a 
multitude  of  observational  facts  as  inexplicable,  and  therefore 
deduce  them  from  supernatural  or  innate  causes  {e.  g.,  the 
mind),  but  it  goes  to  the  bottom  of  things  and  seeks  to  embrace 
their  most  intimate  and  final  conne6lion.  \n  practice  xX.  exceeds 
all  other  systems  and  conceptions  of  the  universe  by  setting  the 
ideal  world  within  us  in  place  of  the  ideal  world  without  us,  and 
endeavors  to  guide  it  towards  realization.  No  other  philosophy 
has  ever  stood  like  this  in  the  closest  connection  with  life  itself; 
and  the  best  touchstone  of  its  value  and  correctness  will  be 
found  in  the  influence  which  it  has  already  exerted  and  will  yet 
exert  upon  life  and  its  forms.  Just  as  its  theory  is  simple, 
unitary,  clear  and  definite,  so  also  is  its  practical  tendency  ; 
and  its  whole  programme  with  regard  to  the  future  of  man  and 
of  the  human  race  may  be  expressed  in  six  words,  which  con- 
tain all  that  can  be  theoretically  or  practically  required  for  this 
future,  namely  : 

FREEDOM,    CULTURE   AND    PROSPERITY    FOR    ALL. 


APPENDIX. 


NOTES,  EXPLANATIONS  and  ADDITIONS. 


(1.)  Formerly  it  was  supposed  that  the  past  of  our  earth  was  clearly  separated 
from  lis  present ,  and  it  was  imagined  that  the  earth  and  its  course  of  formation 
had  now  entered  upon  a  period  of  rest  or  of  exhaustion,  or  complete  equilibrium 
of  forces,  whilst  previously  great  revolutions  and  catastrophes,  terrible  changes 
with  periodical  destructions  of  all  organized  being  had  taken  place.  These  two 
periods  of  the  past  and  present  were  then  thought  to  be  separated  by  a  great 
waterflood  or  "Deluge,"  which  occurred  not  long  before  the  commencement  of 
historical  chronology  and  destroyed  all  the  then  existing  organic  creation,  and 
this  at  once.  The  expression  "primitive  world,"  (VoriveK)  or  "antediluvian," 
{Vorwelt  lick)  is  therefore  synonymous  with  the  expression  "Anterior  to  the  sin- 
flood,"  iporsundfluthlich),  which  is  still  so  frequently  employed.  But  it  may  be 
remarked  in  passing  that  the  word  "sin-flood"  (6';V«(///«M)  is  of  quite  incorrect 
formation  and  leads  to  the  false  belief  that  this  flood  was  intended  to  destroy 
"sinful"  men.  But  the  word  really  lying  at  the  root  of  the  word  ^^  Silnd/luth," 
is  theold  German  "sin"  or  "j/«/,"  which  signifies  great,  mighty  or  of  long  dura- 
tion, and  therefore  it  expresses  only  the  idea  of  a  great  or  enormous  deluge.  The 
only  correct  orthography  is  therefore  "  Sintjiiith." 

This  entire  conception  is  geologically  incorrect.  It  is  indeed  probable  that, 
especially  at  the  cessation  of  the  so-called  "  glacial  period  "  (a  subdivision  of  the 
quaternary  epoch),  certain  great  floods  may  have  taken  place,  but  no  one  such  as 
could  have  produced  a  simultaneous  submergence  of  the  entire  surface  of  the 
earth.  These  floods,  moreover,  were  not  produced  by  a  single  rapid  catastrophe, 
but  by  many  processes  following  one  upon  another,  and  in  long  periods  of  time. 
The  powerful  animals  of  the  period  in  question  became  extinct  quite  gradually 
and  not  all  at  once,  and  there  is  consequently  no  decided  division  between  the 
past  and  present,  between  the  so-called  antediluvian  and  postdiluvian  times. 
In  fact  we  only  know  of  gradual  transitions  in  an  uninterrupted  chain  of  geologi- 
cal phenomena.  Even  at  the  present  day  the  same  essential  processes  and  forces 
are  at  work  in  the  formation  of  the  earth's  surface,  as  in  former  times.  Never- 
theless there  does  exist  a  great  difference  between  then  and  now,  inasmuch  as  at 
the  diluvial  period  we  meet  with  essentially  changed  conditions,  such  as  a  different 
form  of  the  surface  of  the  earth,  a  different  and  higher  course  for  the  rivers  a 
different  proportion  of  land  and  water,  a  difference  in  the  deposits  formed  and 
above  aJl  a  totally  different  fauna  and  flora,  among  which  are  especially  to  be 
noted  the  characteristic  diluvial  animals  already  mentioned. 

(277j 


278  APPENDIX. 

The  Diluvium  is  followed  immediately  by  the  so-called  Alluvium,  which  consists 
of  the  deposits  of  the  existing  rivers  on  their  banks  or  at  their  openings  into  the 
sea.  This  period  presupposes  essentially  the  same  conditions  of  the  surface  of 
the  earth  that  now  exist,  and  especially  a  fauna  and  flora  perfectly  similar  to  those 
now  living.  There  is  no  clear  boundary  line  between  the  two  periods,  but  they 
pass  gradually  into  one  another.  We  may  therefore  still  further  employ  the 
often  used  expression  "antediluvian  "  (vorweltlich  or  vorsiindfluthlick),  taking  it  as 
synonymous  with  the  still  more  frequently  employed  denomination  "fossil"  or 
"petrified,"  but  we  must  at  the  same  time  carefully  avoid  connecting  with  it  an 
erroneous  idea  belonging  to  former  geological  theories.  Taken  in  this  sense 
therefore,  as  stated  in  the  text,  the  discovery  of  Aurignac  gives  evidence  of  the 
antediluvian,  {vorweltlicJie  or  vorsundfltithliche),  existence  of  man,  who  evidently 
lived  at  that  spot  contemporaneously  with  the  extinct  animals  of  that  period. 
This  result  completely  annihilates  the  notion,  formerly  universally  regarded  as 
correct,  that  man  only  made  his  appearance  upon  the  earth  during  the  period  of 
the  alluvium. 

However,  nearly  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  have  the  tradition  of  a  great  deluge 
(Siindjluth),  which  destroyed  the  greater  number  of  living  creatures,  only  leaving 
a  few  from  which  all  subsequent  races  are  descended  ;  and  from  this  circumstance 
it  has  been  supposed  that  the  actual  universality  of  this  great  deluge  might  be 
deduced.  The  Catholic  Church  which  was  at  first  inclined  to  set  up  the  univer- 
sality of  the  deluge  as  an  article  of  faith,  finally  in  1686  decided  in  favor  of  the 
opposite  view  and  left  opinion  upon  this  point  free,  in  consequence  of  a  report 
from  the  French  Benedictine  Mabillon. 

(2.)  The  best  known  case  of  this  kind  is  the  celebrated  or  notorious  Homo 
diluvii  testis  or  Antediluvian  Man  of  Professor  Scheuchzer  of  Zurich.  Professor 
Scheuchzer  in  1726  discovered  in  a  celebrated  fossiliferous  deposit  near  Oeningen 
in  Baden,  a  completely  fossilized  skeleton  which  he  regarded  as  the  remains  of  a 
child  of  four  years  old  (Andrias  Scheuchzeri),  and  which  inspired  a  theologian  of 
the  period  with  the  celebrated  verses  : 

"  Betriibtes  Beingeriist  von  einem  armen  Sunder, 
Erweiche  Herz  und  Sinn  der  neuen  Bosheitskinder,  &c." 

Subsequently  it  proved  to  be  the  skeleton  of  a  gigantic  Salamander. 

Another  very  amusing  affair  of  the  same  kind  took  place  in  1616.  Near  Chau- 
mont  in  the  south  of  France,  the  bones  of  a  Mammoth  or  antediluvian  Elephant 
were  dug  out,  and  these  were  declared  by  a  speculative  doctor,  named  Mazurier, 
to  be  the  petrified  remains  of  the  celebrated  Cimbrian  King,  Teutobochus  Rex, 
who  was  taken  prisoner  by  Marius  in  the  great  battle  of  Aquae  Sextiae,  (Aix),  in 
the  year  102  B.  C,  and  of  whom  tradition  says  that  he  was  so  large  that  he  over- 
looked the  standards  of  the  army,  and  that  he  had  jumped  over  six  horses  at  once. 
Mazurier  exhibited  the  bones  for  money  and  obtained  considerable  sums,  until  at 
last  after  the  publication  of  several  learned  treatises  and  after  many  learned  dis- 
cussions the  fraud  was  brought  to  light.  This  and  similar  discoveries  may  have 
aided  in  producing  the  belief  in  the  former  existence  of  a  race  of  human  giants 
which  was  once  so  widely  spread.  In  the  same  way  the  remains  of  a  Hippopota- 
mus dug  up  in  Sicily  were  long  regarded  as  the  bones  of  one  of  those  heaven- 
storming  giants  which  play  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  Greek  Mythology. 


APPENDIX.  279 

(3.)  A  more  recent  discovery  exactly  similar  to  this  is  described  in  the  memoir 
entitled,  Note  siir  la  dicouverte  d'  Ossements  fossiles  humains  dans  le  Lehm  de 
la  vallec  du  Rhtn,  etc.,  (Colmar,  1867.)  In  the  year  1S65  human  bones  were  found 
in  the  Loess  of  the  Rhine  at  Eguisheim,  near  Colmar  (Alsace),  with  all  the  indica- 
tions of  fossiliza!  ion  and  in  the  same  bed  with  bones  of  extinct  animals,  (Mammoth, 
Horse,  Stag,  Aurochs,  etc.)  The  results  at  which  the  author,  (Dr.  Faudel),  arrives, 
after  a  thorough  examination  of  the  case,  are  as  follows  : 

1.  The  bed  in  question  is  undoubtedly  Alpine  Loam  of  the  Rhine  valley,  {t.  e. 
Loess.) 

2.  In  this  undisturbed  soil  contemporaneous  fossil  bones  of  animals  and  human 
remains  were  found. 

3.  Both  have  undergone  the  same  changes  of  tissue  and  composition,  and  both 
occurred  under  absolutely  the  same  circumstances. 

4.  Hence  we  may  conclude  that  man  lived  in  Alsace  at  the  time  when  the 
Alpine  loam  was  deposited,  and  contemporaneously  with  animals  of  the  Quater- 
nary epoch,  such  as  the  Gigantic  Deer,  the  Bison,  the  Mammoth,  etc.  As  regards 
the  human  bones  in  particular,  they  consisted  of  two  fragments  of  the  skull,  and 
showed  a  depressed  forehead,  strongly  projecting  superciliary  arches,  and  a  type 
on  the  whole  approaching  the  so-called  dolichocephalic  or  long-headed  form, — 
consequently  a  great  resemblance  to  the  celebrated  Neanderthal  skull. 

A  very  accurate  chemical  investigation  and  comparison  of  the  bones  of  man  and 
animals  here  found,  undertaken  by  M.  Scheurer-Kestner,  led  to  the  general  result 
that  "from  a  chemical  point  of  view  the  contemporaneity  of  man  with  the  extinct 
species  of  animals  must  be  regarded  as  proved." 

(4.)This  locality  is  particularly  remarkable  because  it  has  enabled  us  to  recognize 
a  regular  superposition  of  three  distinct  phases  of  civilization.  It  is  a  cone  con- 
sisting of  sand,  gravel  and  rolled  pebbles  which  the  little  river  Tiniere  has 
gradually  deposited  at  its  opening  into  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  and  has  been  cut 
through  for  a  length  of  133  meters  and  to  a  depth  of  about  7  metres  or  23  feet  by 
the  railway.  This  cutting  has  laid  open  three  layers  of  civilization  (Cultur- 
schichten.)  The  uppermost,  a  layer  of  4-6  inches  in  thickness  at  a  depth  of  four 
feet,  contained  ancient  Roman  tiles  and  coins,  and  must  therefore  be  referredsto 
the  time  of  the  Roman  occupation.  In  the  next  layer,  6  inches  in  thickness  and 
at  a  depth  of  10  feet,  there  were  distinct  traces  of  the  so-called  Bronze-period ; 
and  third  and  last  layer,  6-7  inches  thick  and  at  a  depth  of  19  feet,  contained  rude 
pottery,  fractured  bones  of  animals,  wood  charcoal,  &c., —  and  may  therefore  be 
assigned  to  the  last  divisions  of  the  so-called  Stone-period.  The  three  layers  were 
separated  by  deposits  of  rubbish,  and  the  whole  appeared  so  regular,  that  it  could 
not  be  regarded  as  having  been  brought  together  by  a  stream,  but  by  a  slow  and 
regular  process  of  deposition.  From  the  relative  thickness  of  the  deposits,  and 
the  historical  datum  of  the  Roman  time,  Morlot  calculates  for  the  bronze-layer  an 
approximate  age  of  3-4000  years,  and  for  the  stone-layer  an  age  of  4-7000  years, 
whilst  the  deposition  of  the  entire  cone  must  have  required  a  period  of  10,000 
years. 

These  estimates,  however,  have  lately  had  some  doubts  thrown  upon  them  by  an 
American  savant.  Professor  Andrews  of  Chicago,  who  has  reduced  them,  by  his 
own  calculations,  more  than  one  half ;  whether  with  justice  the  future  must 
decide. 


28o  APPENDIX. 

I  must,  remark  however,  that,  as  stated  by  Carl  Vogt,  (Vorlesungen  iiber  den 
Mensc/ien),  a  human  skeleton  was  found  in  the  stone-layer  of  the  cone  under  con- 
sideration, and  that  its  "very  round,  very  small,  and  very  thick  skull  had  the 
type  of  a  Mongolian  brachycephalan."  Unfortunately  Vogt  could  ascertain 
nothing  further  about  this  skull. 

(5.)  In  the  winter  of  1853-54,  by  taking  advantageof  a  very  low  level  of  the  water 
in  the  lake  of  Zurich,  Dr.  Keller  discovered  the  first  traces  of  the  lake-dwellings 
or  pile-buildings,  which  have  since  been  found  in  so  many  places  and  become  so 
famous.  They  have  been  detected  in  great  abundance  in  nearly  all  the  lakes  of 
Switzerland,  and  also  in  the  Bavarian  and  North-Italian  lakes,  in  the  peat-bogs 
of  Mecklenburg  and  Pomerania,  the  remains  of  former  lakes,  &c.  Within  his- 
torical times  Herodotus  and  Hippocrates  mention  certain  tribes  in  Thrace  and  on 
the  river  Phasis  who  dwelt  in  pile-villages.  This  was  23  centuries  ago;  but  even 
at  the  present  day  many  savage  tribes  still  live  in  similar  settlements,  such  as  were 
met  with  and  represented  by  Dumont  d'Urville  in  his  voyage  of  discovery  to  New 
Guinea.  Moritz  Wagner  also  makes  a  similar  report  in  his  journey  to  Colchis  and 
the  country  of  the  Caucasus.  Incredible  quantities  of  bones,  remains  of  food, 
and  articles  of  human  industry  of  all  kin'  s,  which  have  been  found  in  the  bottoms 
of  the  lakes  beneath  the  former  dwellings  and  amongst  the  piles,  generally  in  a 
very  good  state  of  preservation,  have  enabled  students  to  sketch  a  tolerably 
distinct  picture  of  the  life  and  doings  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  pile-build- 
ings, of  which  details  may  be  found  in  the  numerous  reports  and  memoirs  of 
Keller,  Rutimeyer,  Troyon,  Messikomer,  Heer,  Desor,  Lisch,  Lyell,  Vogt,  Virchow 
and  others.  Many  pile-buildings,  especially  those  of  the  bronze-period,  are  so 
large  that  no  fewer  than  100,000  piles  have  been  found  driven  close  together  at  a 
certain  distance  from  the  shore  ;  and  their  number  is  so  great  that  in  the  Swiss 
lakes  we  already  know  far  more  than  200,  and  in  the  Neuenburg  lake  alone  46 
such  lake-stations.  The  object  of  the  pile-buildings  was  evidently  the  protection 
of  the  inhabitants  from  wild  animals,  the  attacks  of  enemies,  &c.,  besides  the 
ready  obtaining  of  food  by  fishing.  The  inhabitants  of  the  pile-dwellings  appear, 
however,  to  have  been  cannibals;  at  least  the  human  bones  which  have  been 
found  scorched,  broken  and,  apparently,  gnawed  by  human  teeth,  are  in  favor  of 
this  opinion. 

As  regards  the  antiquity  of  the  pile-dwellings  they  seem  certainly  to  have  existed 
for  a  very  long  time,  as  we  find  in  them  remains  of  the  stone,  bronze,  and  iron- 
periods,  sometimes  separate,  sometimes  intermixed.  But  however  aiiciev.t  even 
the  oldest  of  them  may  be,  they  all  belong  to  the  alluvial  period,  and  probably 
their  last  offshoots  extend  far  down  into  the  historical  period.  Many  pile-buildings 
may  have  been  inhabited  down  to  the  time  of  the  Romans,  and  the  most  recent 
dredging  operations  in  the  bed  of  the  Rhine  near  Mayence  have  even  furnished 
evidence  that  Roman  colonists  on  the  Rhine  dwelt  in  pile-villages.  At  any  rate 
the  pile-buildings  furnish  a  proof  of  what  is  most  important  for  our  present  pur- 
pose, namely,  that  thousands  of  years  before  the  historical  period,  the  human  race 
had  already  acquired  so  high  a  degree  of  civilization  as  to  be  able  to  erect  such 
dwelling  places  as  these,  with  all  things  belonging  to  them. 

(6.)  The  Danish  peat-bogs,  which  have  been  chiefly  investigated  by  Steenstrup, 
are  very  rich  in  bones  and  remains  of  human  activity  ;  we  might  almost  say,  with 


APPENDIX. 


281 


Steenstrup,  that  there  is  scarcely  a  square  yard  of  them  that  does  not  furnish 
proofs  of  the  existence  of  prehistoric  man.  Their  depth  amounts  to  from  10  to  40 
feet  or  even  more,  although  the  peat  grows  so  slowly  that  old  peat-diggers  deny 
its  increase  because  they  have  been  unable  to  observe  it  during  their  lives.  To 
form  a  layer  of  peat  of  10  to  20  feet  in  thickness  takes,  according  to  Steenstrup, 
at  least  4000  years,  and  perhaps  even  from  three  to  four  times  this  period.  Now 
according  to  the  species  of  trees  the  remains  of  which  are  found  in  the  peat-bogs, 
three  periods  of  peat-deposition  in  Denmark  have  been  distinguished,  and  these 
are  designated  the  periods  of  the  fir,  oak  and  beech.  The  lowermost,  the  Scotch 
Fir,  (Pimis  sylvestris),  indicates  the  most  ancient  period  ;  this  is  very  old,  as  this 
tree  never  was  indigenous  in  the  Danish  islands  in  historical  times,  and  must  have 
become  extinct  there  time  out  of  mind.  This  was  followed  by  the  Oak,  which 
has  also  been  for  a  very  long  time  extinct  in  Denmark,  and  has  given  place  to  the 
Beech,  the  true,  historical  tree  of  that  country.  Now  even  in  the  lowest  deposit, 
among  the  trunks  of  the  Firs,  traces  of  man  have  been  met  with  in  the  form  of 
worked  flints  and  bones ;  whilst  in  the  superjacent  layers  of  the  Oak-period  imple- 
ments of  bronze  have  occurred  and  in  the  uppermost  or  Beech-layers  implements, 
weapons  and  coins  of  iron,  and  even  indications  of  the  Roman  invasion.  The 
historical  period  consequently  belongs  only  to  the  last  of  the  three  periods,  or  the 
Beech-period. 

That  there  must  be  a  certain  parallelism  in  time  between  the  Danish  Fir-period 
and  the  formation  of  the  Kjokkenmoddings  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  the  latter 
the  bones  of  the  Capercailzie,  which  feeds  in  spring  upon  the  young  shoots  of  the 
Fir,  have  been  met  with.  Human  bones  of  that  time  have  also  been  found  in  the 
peat-bogs  and  in  tumuli ;  the  skulls  are  narrow  and  round  and  have  a  projecting 
ridge  above  the  eyebrows,  so  that  the  ancient  race  was  small  and  roundheaded, 
with  overhanging  eyebrows,  and  thus  possessed  a  great  resemblance  to  the  existing 
Laplanders,  who  are  probably  a  remnant  of  this  primitive  population  of  the  north. 
Their  place  is  taken  during  the  iron  age  by  a  perfectly  different  type  with  an 
elongated,  oval  head  and  of  far  more  powerful  structure.  This  is  the  case  also 
with  the  dog,  which  was  smallest  and  weakest  in  the  stone-age  and  strongest  in 
the  iron-age. 

(7.)  In  the  thirteenth  century  the  expression  "giants'  graves"  or  "giants' 
mounds,"  first  makes  its  appearance,  and  certainly  many  of  these  immense 
burying  places  which  were  scattered  in  the  solitude  of  vast  forests  and  moors,  and 
are  now  for  the  most  part  destroyed  by  agricultural  and  roadmaking  operations, 
fully  deserved  that  name.  Constructed  of  immense  blocks  and  masses  of  stone, 
they  were  either  placed  upon  natural  hills,  or  artificially  elevated  into  hills,  which 
were  afterwards  planted  with  great  trees.  In  the  interior  of  the  sepulchres,  com- 
posed of  huge,  rough  slabs  of  stone,  objects  of  the  stone,  bronze  and  iron-ages 
have  been  found,  but  bronze  objects  greatly  predominate.  On  the  Island  of 
Schonen  near  Kivik  a  gigantic  grave  of  this  kind  was  met  with,  in  which  the 
drawings  made  upon  the  .sandstone  slabs  enclosing  the  grave  left  no  doubt  that  at 
this  place  human  sacrifices  were  offered  to  the  Sungod  I 

The  northern  antiquaries  are  of  opinion  that  these  giants'  graves  a^e  the  pro- 
ductions of  that  Lappo-Finnish  race  which  inhabited  the  whole  of  Northern 
Europe,  before  the  immigration  of  the  Scandinavio-Germanic  races,  and  were 


k 


282  APPENDIX. 

driven  back  by  this  immigration  to  the  extreme  north  where  it  still  leads  an 
indigent  nomadic  life. 

Still  older  than  the  so-called  "giants'  graves,"  are  the  Dolmens  or  stone  tables 
(also  called  Cromlechs  ox  Menhirs),  very  ancient  stone  edifices,  which  have  been 
found  especially  well-represented  in  Brittany.  They  consist  of  upright  stones 
covered  with  slabs  laid  transversely  upon  them  and  are  reproduced,  more  or  less 
numerously  in  almost  all  the  countries  bordering  the  Mediterranean.  Under 
some  of  these  remarkable  monuments,  corpse-chambers  containing  abundant 
treasures  of  objects  of  art  and  human  remains  have  been  found.  The  earthen 
vessels  found  stand  on  a  much  higher  technical  ground  than  the  vessels  from  the 
Swiss  pile-buildings.  With  regard  to  the  purpose  of  these  edifices  and  the  nature 
of  their  builders  we  have  as  yet  nothing  but  suppositions.  One  of  the  grandest 
and  most  enigmatical  of  these  monuments  is  the  celebrated  Stonehenge. 

Moreover,  according  to  a  communication  made  by  Dr.  Hooker,  to  the  Meeting 
of  the  British  Association  in  the  year  1868,  the  Khasias  of  eastern  Bengal  even  at 
the  present  day  erect  similar  dolmens  or  stone-tables,  merely  with  the  aid  of  levers 
and  ropes.  (See  Globus,  vol.  xiv,  part  4.)  See  also  with  regard  to  this  subject 
The  Transactions  0/  the  International  Congress  for  Archaio- Anthropology  for 
the  year  iS6j, —  on  Megalithic  Monuments.  According  to  a  report  there  published 
by  M.  Bertrand,  the  stone-monuments  are  graves  and  belong  for  the  most  part 
to  the  third  Stone-age,  or  the  age  of  polished  stones. 

(8.)  About  the  middle  of  the  great  tertiary  epoch  a  tropical  climate  and  tropical 
fauna  and  flora  spread  over  the  whole  of  Europe  even  into  high  northern  lati- 
tudes,—  Palms,  Cedars,  Laurels  and  Cinnamon  trees  and  other  tropical  plants 
had  flourished  for  example  in  the  valleys  of  Switzerland,  and  more  than  thirty 
different  oaks  with  evergreen  leaves  adorned  the  forests  of  tliat  time, — Crocodiles 
had  lived  in  our  rivers,  and  Tapirs,  Mastodons,  Mammoths,  Rhinoceroses,  &c., 
in  the  forests; — but  towards  the  end  of  the  tertiary  period  the  temperature  fell 
over  the  northern  hemisphere,  Europe  began  to  assume  a  different  form,  and  in 
consequence  of  the  gradually  changing  physical  influences  the  southern  character 
of  the  fauna  and  flora  disappeared,  to  give  place  finally,  during  the  so-called 
glacial  epoch,  to  a  perfectly  arctic  or  northern  assemblage  of  animals  and  plants. 
Both  in  the  north  and  in  the  south  of  Europe  enormous  glaciers  were  formed, 
their  starling  points  being  the  high  mountains ;  and  these,  either  directly  or  by 
means  of  drift-ice,  scattered  gigantic  fragments  of  rock  torn  from  the  Alpine 
heights  over  the  low  lands.  Once,  however,  during  the  quaternary  epoch,  a 
retrogression  of  these  great  glaciers  took  place,  for  which  reason  geologists  dis- 
tinguish a  first  and  a  second  glacial  epoch,  separated  by  an  interglacial  period. 
But  while  plants  and  animals  suffered  the  greatest  changes  by  this  great  change 
of  climate  and  of  the  formation  of  the  land,  man,  furnished  with  intellectual 
powers,  knew  how  to  resist  these  influences,  especially  by  the  aid  of  fire ;  and  in 
fact  he  lived  through  the  two  glacial  epochs  in  which  many  centuries  passed  in 
the  gradual  increase  and  diminution  of  the  great  glaciers,  man  giving  way  before 
the  increasing  glaciers  and  following  them  up  as  they  diminished  in  size.  In  the 
construction  of  a  canal  in  the  neighborhood  of  Stockholm  they  cut  through  one 
of  those  hills  called  Osars,  which  were  deposited  by  drift-ice  during  the  glacial 
eix)ch  upon  the  Swedish  plain,  then  sunk  in  the  sea  and  subsequently  elevated. 


APPENDIX.  283 

In  this,  under  an  immense  accumulation  of  erratic  blocks,  with  shells  and  sand, 
there  was  discovered  at  a  depth  of  18  metres,  or  about  60  feet,  a  circular  mass  of 
stones,  forming  a  hearth,  in  the  middle  of  which  there  were  wood-coals.  No 
other  hand  than  that  of  man,  could  have  performed  this  piece  of  work  ! 

In  order  to  obtain  a  notion  of  the  enormous  period  of  time  which  must  have 
elapsed  since  the  manufacture  of  the  flint  axes  of  the  Diluvium,  we  must  have 
before  us  a  data  which  M.  Delanoue  has  given  with  regard  to  ilie  geological  con- 
stitution of  the  valley  of  the  Somme.  In  the  environs  of  Amiens,  beneath  the 
Alluvium  and  beneath  the  Loess,  a  product  of  glaciers,  which  sometimes  attains 
a  thickness  of  ten  metres,  there  are  two  diluvial  strata  : — a  red  superficial  one 
which  is  characterized  by  having  its  flints  ar.gular  and  not  very  numerous, —  and 
a  deeper  one  oi  grey  color,  the  rounded  flints  in  v.hich  furnish  evidence  of  strong 
rolling.  These  two  diluvial  ledges,  each  of  which  is  several  metres  in  thickness, 
are  separated  by  a  layer  of  freshwater  deposits,  which  contains  river  shells  and  is 
sometimes  as  much  as  five  metres  thick.  Now  it  is  the  grey  or  lower  Diluvium, 
lying  immediately  upon  the  tertiary  formations,  that  contains  the  remains  of 
human  skill  together  with  the  bones  of  the  Mammoth  and  fossil  Rhinoceros. 
Consequently  after  the  lapse  of  the  first  or  earliest  diluvial  epoch  a  long  period  of 
repose  mu  ;t  have  occurred,  during  which  the  fresh-water  deposits  above  the  grey 
Diluvium  were  formed ;  then  a  fresh  geological  change  caused  the  formation  of 
the  upper  Diluvium  ;  and  still  later  under  new  conditions  again  a  thick  layer  of 
Loess  covered  the  flint  axes  of  the  second  diluvial  epoch.  Finally  the  Alluvium 
was  deposited  upon  the  Loess.  Hence,  since  the  hand  of  man  made  the  first  flint 
axes  of  the  valley  of  the  Somme,  its  geological  conditions  have  changed  no  less 
than  four  times,  and  the  duration  of  these  periods  of  change  is  truly  incalculable, 
(See  Broca  ;  Hisioire  des  Travaux  de  la  Societe  d'  Anthropologie  de  Paris,  iS6j). 
Further  details  upon  the  Glacial  epoch  and  its  relations  to  the  question  of  the 
antiquity  of  the  Human  race  will  be  found  in  the  works  of  Lyell,  Vogt  and  others 
already  mentioned.  Lyell,  especially,  (in  his  Antiquity  0/ Man,)  has  given  a  very 
accurate  summary  of  the  facts  relating  to  the  Glacial  epoch  and  the  traces  of 
human  existence  contained  in  its  deposits. 

To  the  above  demonstration  of  the  high  antiquity  of  the  objects  found  in  the 
valley  of  the  Somme,  it  might  also  be  added,  that  in  that  valley  a  peat  of  great 
thickness  (often  as  much  as  30  feet),  belonging  to  the  alluvial  period,  occurs.  In 
the  upper  layers  of  this,  Roman  and  Celtic  monuments  are  contained,  and  its 
growth  was  so  slow,  that  it  must  have  taken  thousands  of  years.  Nevertheless  it 
is  much  later  than  the  old  gravel-deposits  with  Mammoth-bones  and  flint  a.xes 
which  lies  beneath  it.  Moreover,  some  of  these  gravel-deposits  were  accumulated 
in  river-courses  which  formerly  flowed  a  hundred  feet  higher  than  the  present 
stream,  and  before  the  valley  had  acquired  its  present  form  and  depth.  What  a 
length  of  time  must  consequently  have  elapsed  since  the  deposition  of  those  axe- 
bearing  beds  ! 

(9)  "The  Chronology  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  handed  down  by  Manetho*  and 
others,"  says  F.  RoUe,  (Der  Mensch,  &c.,  1S66),  "like  the  race-traditions  of  other 

*  Manetho,  high  priest  of  HeliopoHs,  who  lived  350  years  B.  C,  calculates  for 
375  Pharaohs  a  reigning  period  ot  6117  years,  which,  together  with  the  present 
era,  makes  about  8330  years.  His  statements  have  been  frequently  declared  un- 
worthy of  belief,  but  they  have  finally  proved  to  be  thoroughly  trustworthy. 


284  APPENDIX. 

ancient  jjeoples,  was  regarded  by  Cuvier  as  unworthy  of  credit  in  comparison 
with  the  Mosaic  records,  and  he  assumed  that  in  accordance  with  the  latter  the 
creation  of  Man  took  place  about  6000  years  ago.  Nevertheless  the  historical 
part  of  Manetho's  report  has  since  proved  to  be  more  authentic  than  Cuvier's 
geological  views. 

"  Even  in  1845  Wagner  asserted  that  the  Mosaic  record  of  Creation  could 
establish  its  claim  to  be  the  most  ancient  composition  above  all  other  traditions, 
and  that  nothing  but  a  deficiency  of  the  necessary  linguistic  knowledge  has  led  to 
other  opinions;  with  the  exception  of  the  Hebrew  the  extant  histories  of  the 
most  ancient  peoples,  including  the  Egyptians,  reaches  back  at  the  utmost  to 
about  2000  years  B.  C. 

"  Nevertheless  the  investigation  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  monuments  and  the 
deciphering  of  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphs,  which  has  attained  a  high  degree  of 
certainty,  have  since  proved  the  historical  truth  of  a  great  part  of  Manetho's 
reports,  and  shown  that  he  was  no  mere  fabulous  writer,  but  that  he  drew  his 
materials  from  ancient  Egyptian  historical  springs,  was  very  well-informed,  and 
one  of  the  most  trustworthy  of  the  writers  of  antiquity,  &c. 

"The  kingdom  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  according  to  Lepsius,  was  already  a 
well-ordered  state  under  the  so-called  fourth  Dynasty  about  the  year  3400  B.  C. 
Arts  and  Sciences  flourished.  Hieroglyphic  writing  was  already  invented,  and 
the  characters  drawn  in  this  early  period  are  now  the  most  ancient,  perfectly 
authentic,  written  records  which  the  Archaologist  has  any  where  at  his  command. 

"  Beyond  the  fourth  ancient  Egyptian  Dynasty  the  elucidation  of  history  by 
the  deciphering  of  contemporary  inscriptions  has  certainly  made  but  little  way. 
It  is,  however,  certain  that  the  development  of  the  Egyptian  civilization  is  much 
older  than  even  the  dominion  of  the  fourth  Pharaonic  dynasty.  The  attainment 
of  so  high  a  degree  of  civilization  as  that,  which  already  prevailed  in  Egypt  about 
the  year  3500  B.  Q,.,  presupposes  a  period  0/  several  thousands  of  years  during 
which  man  elevated  himself  by  gradual  progress  from  a  condition  of  rude 
savagery." 

The  celebrated  French  orientalist  and  Christologist,  Ernest  Renan,  has  also 
done  good  service  in  connection  with  the  elucidation  of  ancient  Egyptian  chro- 
nologfy.  According  to  him,  before  the  year  970  B.  C,  when  Sesac  appears  as  the 
first  ruler  of  the  twenty-second  Dynasty,  twenty-one  Dynasties  must  be  brought 
into  the  Egyptian  history,  during  which  this  stood  in  its  highest  lustre.  The 
greatest  epoch  of  Egypt  commences  1700  years  B.  C,  and  therefore  at  a  time 
when  Greece  and  Rome  were  still  nothing,  and  when  Nineveh  and  Babylon  were 
far  from  having  attained  the  pinnacle  of  their  greatness.  Before  the  eighteenth 
Dynasty  comes  the  epoch  of  the  conquering  Hyksos  or  Shepherd  kings.  It  lasted 
511  years  and  commenced  2000  years  B.  C.  Before  the  Shepherds,  Manetho 
reckons  fourteen  dynasties  with  2800  years ;  his  testimony  is  good.  The  dynasties 
also  were  not  merely  local  but  extended  their  sway  over  the  whole  of  Egypt. 
Manetho's  first  ten  dynasties  cannot  be  reckoned  othcrsvise  than  from  5000  to  2000 
years  B.  C,  and  in  them  falls  the  brilliant  period  of  the  Pyramids  and  their 
architects.  Great  light  has  been  thrown  upon  this  epoch  by  Mariette's  excava- 
tions; he  discovered  sculptures,  inscriptions  and  statues  which  reached  up  to 
4000  or  4500  years  B.  C.  It  is  remarkable  that  in  the  graves  and  sepulchres  of  this 
period,  which  already  showed  a  high  grade  of  civilization,  no  trace  was  to  be 


APPENDIX.  285 

found  of  warlike  life  which  afterwards  became  so  important ;  nor  did  anything 
appear  connected  with  religion  or  ritual.  Not  a  single  picture  of  any  deity 
occurred  ;  everything  related  solely  to  Death. 

According  to  J.  Braun,  (Geschichte  der  Kunst  in  ihrem  Eitfzin'ckelungsgang 
durchalle  Volker  der  alien  Welt,  iifc),  Egypt  is  the  most  ancient  of  the  great 
powers  and  the  most  ancient  of  civilized  peoples.  450  years  B.  C,  the  Egyptian 
priests  showed  Herodotus  (to  whom  the  wonders  of  ancient  Egypt  must  have  been 
greater  mysteries  than  to  our  living  Egyptologists)  on  the  outer  walls  of  the  great 
temple  in  Thebes,  345  mummy-chests  ia  which  lay  the  bodies  of  high-priests  who 
had  ruled  from  father  to  son  in  Thebes  for  an  equal  number  of  ages;  it  was  a 
pontificial  monarchy  of  several  thousand  years.  According  to  Braun  the  Greek 
civilization  originated  chiefly  from  Egypt ;  and  in  his  opinion  and  that  of  Roeth 
the  most  important  dogmas  of  Christianity  are  borrowed  from  tiie  Egyptian 
theology. 

We  cannot  but  be  astonished,  when  we  consider,  that  at  a  time,  when  in 
Europe  the  aborigines  chased  the  wild  animals  with  miserable  weapons  of  stone, 
or  dwelt  in  wooden  huts  over  the  water,  and  obtained  their  food  by  hunting  and 
fishing,  on  the  other  side  of  the  great  Mediterranean  sea,  in  that  fortunate  country 
through  which  the  Nile  flows,  mighty  cities  flourished  in  beauty  and  grandeur, 
and  arts  and  sciences  were  cultivated,  whilst  a  powerful  priesthood  held  the  reins 
of  a  regular  government  with  a  firm  hand,  and  probably  maintained  a  flourishing 
commerce  along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  !  And  what  a  length  of  time 
must  have  elapsed  between  that  period,  when  the  Egyptian  aborigines  themselves 
fought  with  weapons  of  stone  and  the  time  when  they  had  attained  the  riegree  of 
civilization  just  described  ! 

In  an  interesting  little  book  on  T/ie  Origin  and  Destiny  0/ Man,  (published  in 
London  in  1S68),  after  a  very  exact  demonstration  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  chro- 
nology founded  upon  Mariette's  discoveries  and  Manetho's  statements,  the  author, 
Mr.  J.  P.  Lesley,  an  American,  sums  up  the  results  of  Egyptian  investigation  as 
follows:  "Such  has  been  the  history  of  Egypt!  Seven  thousand  years  have 
passed  since  the  fourth  king  of  the  first  dynasty  built  the  first  pyramid  of 
Cochome,  the  first  which  greets  the  traveller  going  forth  into  the  desert  from  the 
gates  of  Cairo.  Yet  even  then  Egypt  was  an  old  country;  its  people  civilized; 
its  architecture  grand  in  idea  and  perfect  in  execution  ;  its  statuary  natural ;  its 
language  not  only  formed,  but  reduced  to  writing ;  its  agricultural  life  rich 
with  oxen,  asses,  dogs  and  monkeys,  antelopes  and  gazelles,  geese,  ducks,  and 
rwans,  and  slaves  of  Numidia.  .  .  .  That  thry  enjoyed  a  happy,  peaceful,  and 
-sometimes  a  jolly  life,  is  easy  to  see,  for  the  walls  of  the  Memphite  tombs  are 
covered  with  p  ctures  of  feasts,  and  games,  and  dances,  and  boat  tournaments, 
luch  as  amuse  the  populace  of  Paris  in  July  ;  there  you  see  poets  chanting  verses 
and  dancing  girls  with  hair  dressed  up  with  plates  of  gold.  But  you  may  look 
around  in  vain  for  the  symbols  of  any  kind  of  warfare.  Not  a  trace  of  military 
life  is  visible  on  any  monument  previous  to  the  twelfth  dynasty,  and  very  little 
trace  of  religion.  .  .  .  The  deity  had  neither  name  nor  image.  Osiris  was 
unknown.  The  dog  Anubis  is  the  only  guardian  of  these  primeval  mansions  of 
the  dead  ;— the  first  deity,  as  the  first  friend  of  man.  We  can  make  out  only  the 
signs  of  a  purely  patriarchal  civilization,  in  a  land  of  peace  and  plenty.  Each 
tomb  is  built  by  each  farmer  for  his  eternal  residence.     His  effigy  is  seen  in  it. 


286  APPENDIX. 

surrounded  by  the  pictures  of  his  wife,  his  children,  his  servants,  his  scribes,  his 
dogs  and  green  monkeys  and  his  household  goods.  And  all  this  3000  years  before 
Solomon  built  his  temple  on  Mount  Moriah,  or  the  Assyrian  his  palace  on  the 
platform  of  Koujunjik. 

"  For  the  present  let  me  leave,  impressed  upon  your  imaginations,  one  clear 
image,  the  contrast,  the  marvelous  contrast,  between  the  two  pictures  1  have 
drawn.  On  the  one  hand  we  have  this  picture  of  peace  and  plenty  among  the 
ancient  landholders  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile.  On  the  other  hand,  we  liave  that 
picture  of  want  and  warfare  dominating  the  life  of  the  wretched  savages  in  the 
pine-woods  of  Scandinavia,  and  standing  for  the  condition  of  the  human  race,  or 
rather  of  all  the  other  human  races  existing  at  that  ancient  epoch,  outside  of  the 
valley  of  the  Sphinx. 

"  Yet  such  a  contrast  still  exists  in  all  its  grim  integrity  upon  the  earth.  Com- 
pare the  palaces  and  parks  of  England  and  New  England  with  the  wigwams  of 
the  west  or  the  slave-cabins  of  the  south  ;  with  the  utter  homelessness  of  the 
Hottentot  and  Australian  in  the  one  hemisphere,  or  the  wretched  reflection  of 
primeval  barbarism  among  '■  les  tniserables'  in  Paris  or  in  London.  And  so  the 
world  hoards  up  its  old  letters,  although  they  can  be  only  re-read  with  shudder- 
ings  and  tears." 

(10)  It  is  a  common  but  erroneous  opinion  that  culture  and  civilization  weaken 
and  corporeally  degrade  Man.  In  general,  most  certainly  the  reverse  is  the  case. 
Better  habitations,  better  nourishment,  better  clothing  and  greater  protection  from 
diseases  and  from  the  manifold  injurious  actions  of  external  nature  cannot  act  dis- 
advantageously  upon  man  and  his  corporeal  growth,  but  must  be  to  his  advantage. 
This  applies  especially  to  those  countries  and  climates  which  do  not  spontaneously 
pour  what  he  requires  into  the  lap  of  man,  and  which  do  not  relieve  him  of  all 
care  about  his  habitation  and  clothing.  On  the  other  hand  it  certainly  cannot  be 
denied  that  civilization  brings  with  it  much  that  is  injurious,  weakening  and 
enervating  or  excessively  exciting,  and  therefore  must  be  accompanied  by  disad- 
vantages of  which  man  in  a  state  of  nature  is  ignorant.  But  this  cannot  upset 
the  general  rule,  which  is  indeed  abundantly  confirmed  by  experience.  For 
wherever  civilized  peoples  come  in  contact  with  savages  or  with  tribes  in  a  natural 
state,  the  latter  yield  before  the  greater  power  and  strength  of  the  former  ;  nay, 
they  even  die  out  when  in  contact  with  civilization,  as  if  touched  by  a  pestilential 
breath,  as  has  been  the  case  in  America  and  Australia.  It  is  true  that  here  the 
enormous  preponderance  of  greater  intellectual  development  comes  into  play,  and 
associated  with  it  the  increased  power  of  material  agencies  and  of  greater  moral 
force. 

As  regards  the  primeval  man  of  Europe  and  his  bodily  structure,  it  would 
appear,  judging  from  the  discoveries  hitherto  made,  that  he  not  only  belonged  to 
a  peculiar  race,  but  that  the  prehistoric  races  of  Europe  differed  greatly  among 
themselves.  According  to  Vogt  and  Pruner-Bty  there  certainly  existed  two 
different,  prehistoric  races,  of  which  one  was  large  and  dolichocephalic,  the  other 
small  anil  brachycephalic.  But  Vogt  regards  the  former  as  the  most  ancient. 
Professor  Wilson,  who  has  investigated  the  prehistoric  times  of  Scotland,  is  also 
of  opinion  that  a  dolichocephalic  race  was  conquered  and  subjected  by  a  later 
intrusive,  brachycephalic  one,  whilst  the  latter  in  its  turn,  after  making  consider- 


APPENDIX.  287 

able  advances  in  the  bronze  age,  was  destroyed  by  the  Celts  who  introduced  iron. 
According  to  Professor  Schaaffhausen  also,  the  oldest  skull  was  probably  dolichoce- 
phalic, thick-walled  and  small. 

Stone-weapons  are  generally  found  associated  with  long,  negro-like  skulls; 
bronze-weapons  with  short,  mongoliform  skulls.  Even  in  the  present  day  these 
two  forms  of  skull  represent  those  two  of  the  three  principal  races  of  man, 
Negroes,  Mongols  and  Europeans,  which  have  remained  most  stationary  in  the 
general  development  of  civilization  ;  whilst  the  type  of  the  oval  or  average  head 
is  that  of  European  and  other  civilized  peoples.  This  type  has  probably  been  pro- 
duced by  an  intermixture  of  the  prehistoric  races  with  the  conquering  people  who 
introduced  the  Aryan  languages  and  the  use  of  metals  into  Europe.  For  these 
conquerors  did  not  destroy  the  conquered  peoples,  but  mixed  with  and  changed 
them.  Since  then,  fresh  immigrations  and  intermixtures  have  been  constantly 
taking  place.  At  the  present  day,  according  to  Broca,  {Report  i86j-6y),  the  two 
extremes  of  these  mixtures  are  represented  by  the  Basques  and  Fins,  of  which  the 
former  are  dolichocephalic  and  the  latter  brachycephalic.  Broca  is  moreover  of 
opinion  that  dolichocephalism  and  brachycephalism  have  no  definite  relation  to 
intellectual  development,  and  that  among  the  European  autochthones  or  abo- 
rigines living  before  the  Indo-Germanic  immigration,  many  were  dolichocephalic 
and  many  brachycephalic,  some  large  and  others  small  in  stature.  The  mixture 
of  these  with  the  Indo-Germanic  immigrants,  according  to  him,  produced  the 
many  differences  of  the  existing  European  peoples. 

According  to  Professor  Schaaffhausen,  (Ueber  die  Ur/ornt  des  menschlichen 
Schadeis,  j868),  the  dolichocephalic  type  of  the  most  ancient  skulls  is  lower  than 
the  brachycephalic,  and  must  therefore  be  regarded  as  older ;  but  it  might  never- 
theless possibly  be  that  it  migrated  into  Europe  at  a  later  period  and,  being  a 
ruder  but  physically  more  powerful  race,  overcame  and  displaced  the  brachy- 
cephalic type.  This  would  explain  why  so  many  ancient  skulls  of  a  brachy- 
cephalic race  have  been  discovered  in  Scandinavia,  England  and  western  Europe 
generally.  Perhaps  also,  immigrations  of  both  races  into  Europe  may  have  taken 
place  from  time  to  time,  (from  Asia,  where  the  brachycephalic,  and  from  Africa, 
where  the  dolichocephalic  type  predominates.) 

All  the  prehistoric  men  of  Europe,  like  most  savages  even  of  the  historical 
period,  were  cannibals,  as  appears  from  the  numerous  discoveries  of  broken  and 
scorched  human  bones. 

"If  we  uplift  the  deposits  of  the  earth's  surface,"  says  R.  Schweichel  in  an 
essay  on  the  present  state  of  linguistic  and  natural  science  with  relation  to  the 
primitive  history  of  man,  (Leipzig,  1868),  "there  appears  as  the  first  inhabitant 
of  Central  Europe  a  man,  whose  protruding  jaws  and  nearly  deficient  forehead 
betray  a  savage  animal  character.  The  elongated  skull  with  its  strongly  project- 
ing eyebrows  reminds  one  of  the  Negro,  the  Mongol,  the  Hottentot  and  the 
Australian.  This  autochthon,  the  associate  of  the  Elephant,  Rhinoceros  and 
Hyena,  was  followed  by  a  nobler,  broad-headed,  slender  race  with  small  hands 
and  feet,  which  points  towards  Asia.  It  approaches  the  existing  Lapps,  Fins  and 
Esthonians.  Its  associate  in  time  was  the  reindeer.  This  race  never  entirely  dis- 
appeared. Its  traces  are  still  to  be  found  everywhere  among  the  present  popula- 
tion of  Europe.  Professor  Fraas  has  called  attention  to  them  in  Swabia,  where 
they  had  previously  been  regarded  as  a  residue  of  the  invasions  of  the  Huns. 


288  APPENDIX. 

"  The  agricultural  man  belongs  to  another  race  which  made  its  appearance  in 
the  later  Stone-age,  especially  in  the  pile-buildings,  and  was  the  principal 
occupant  of  Central  Europe  throughout  the  whole  Bronze-age.  The  rounded 
skull,  rather  broad  than  long,  indicates  an  energetic  muscular  people.  That  they 
had  small  hands  is  proved  by  the  remarkably  short  handles  of  their  bronze  swords, 
which  are  much  too  small  for  a  hand  of  the  present  day.  In  the  north  of  Switzer- 
land this  type  has  maintained  itself  to  the  present  day." 

(ii)  Dr.  Spring,  a  distinguished  savant  of  the  University  of  Liege,  a  long  time 
ago  made  an  extremely  remarkable  discovery  on  the  bank  of  the  Maas  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Chauvaux.  About  a  hundred  feet  above  the  present  level  of  the 
river  there  was  a  small  bone-cave,  in  the  deposits  of  loam  and  stalagmite  of  which 
there  were  numerous  bones  of  animals  and  men  lying  intermixed.  The  condition 
of  these  bones,  which  were  generally  split  and  broken,  led  Spring  to  conclude  with 
p>erfect  justice  that  they  were  the  remains  of  a  feast  of  cannibals  or  man-eaters. 
The  human  skulls  and  fragments  of  skulls  found  here  all  showed  a  form  ap- 
proaching that  of  the  Negro  rather  than  that  of  the  European.  The  skull  apn 
peared  to  be  absolutely,  and  especially  in  proportion  to  the  jaws,  very  small,  the 
forehead  depressed,  the  temples  flattened,  the  nostrils  broad,  the  dental  arches 
very  prominent  and  the  teeth  obliquely  placed.  The  facial  angle  scarcely 
amounted  to  700.  Judging  from  the  length  of  the  other  bones,  especially  the 
thigh-bones,  the  race  must  have  been  of  small  stature.  Roughly  worked  stone- 
axes  and  fragments  of  burnt  clay  accompanied  the  remains. 

According  to  Vogt,  {Kbhlerglaube  und  Wissenschaft,  /S^S,)  all  these  characters 
"indicate  a  primitive  kind  of  man  more  nearly  resembling  the  oblique-toothed 
Alfuru,  the  Negro,  and  generally  the  whole  lower  tj'pe  of  human  structure,  than 
the  higher  one." 

Among  the  numerous  discoveries  made  by  Dr.  Schmerling  in  the  Belgian  caves 
and  described  by  him,  the  so-called  Engis-skull,  (from  the  cave  of  Engis  on  the 
bank  of  the  Maas),  has  attained  the  greatest  celebrity.  In  its  length  and  narrow- 
ness, the  slight  elevation  of  its  forehead,  the  form  of  the  widely  separated  orbits 
and  the  well-developed  supraorbital  arches,  it  resembles,  especially  when  viewed 
from  above,  the  celebrated  Neanderthal  skull,  with  which  it  has  often  been  com- 
pared, but  nevertheless  in  general  is  far  superior  to  this  in  its  structure.  Vogt 
nevertheless  thinks  it  should  occupy  a  middle  place  between  the  skulls  of  the 
Eskimo  and  the  Australian,  and  regards  it  with  reference  to  the  proportion  of 
length  to  breadth,  as  one  of  the  most  ill-favored,  animal-like  and  simian  of  skulls. 
However,  in  judging  of  the  Engis-skull  we  must  not  forget  that  although  it  was 
f.Tund  with  extinct  species  of  animals  it  was  nevertheless  also  accompanied  by 
remains  of  many  still  living  species,  and  that  consequently  its  former  possessor 
must  in  all  probability  have  belonged  to  a  comparatively  more  recent  epoch. 

Exactly  opposite  the  Engis  cave,  on  the  other  bank  of  the  Maas,  is  the  cave  of 
Engihoul  in  which  Schmerling  also  discovered  numerous  human  bones  mixed  with 
bones  of  extinct  animals ;  but  these  were  chiefly  bones  of  the  extremities,  and 
only  two  small  fragments  of  skulls  couM  be  found.  They  were  accompanied  by 
a  few  rude  stone  implements  ;  indeed  these  objects,  often  associated  with  worked 
bones,  occurred  in  nearly  all  the  Cives  investigated  by  Schmerling. 

The  Engihoul  cave  was  visited  in  i860  in  company  with  Professor  Malaise  of 
Li6geby  the  famous  geologist  Lyell,  who  had  had  his  first  meeting  with  Schmerling 


APPENDIX.  289 

26  years  before.  Additional  fragments  of  bones  of  man  and  animals  were  found, 
and  are  figured  by  M.  Malaise  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Belgium 
for  i860,  (Vol,  X.  page  546.) 

(12)  It  has  been  shown,  especially  by  recent  investigations,  that  even  theyfrj^or 
earliest  stone  period  is  represented  in  the  caves,  which  was  previously  doubted  or 
left  as  an  open  question.  In  some  caves,  (such  as  the  Trou  Marguerite  in  Bel- 
gium), stone  implements  exactly  of  the  character  of  those  found  in  the  valley  of 
the  Somme,  (Moustier  and  St.  Acheul),  occurred  with  enormous  quantites  of  bones 
of  the  extinct  Diluvial  animals,  (Rhinoceros,  Hyena,  Lion  and  Mammoth),  but 
certainly  together  with  many  stone  knives  and  worked  Reindeer  horns,  like  those 
from  the  caves  of  Perigord  in  the  south  of  France.  Dupont  also,  the  indefatiga- 
ble Belgian  cave-explorer,  quite  recently,  (1867),  found  in  one  of  his  caves  a  great 
number  of  flint  knives,  (about  300),  associated  with  split  bones  of  the  Quaternary 
period,  (Cave-Lion,  Cave-Bear,  Rhinoceros,  &c.),  evidently  the  remains  of  a  feast, 
and  these  stone  knives  were  very  diferent  from  those  of  the  Reindeer  period. 

According  to  Lartet,  the  distinguished  explorer  of  the  French  caves,  many  of 
the  stone  wedges  of  the  caves  are  perfectly  analogous  to  those  of  the  open  diluvial 
deposits,  so  that,  as  he  expresses  himself,  many  anthropologists  believe  that  the 
diluvial  man  contemporaneously  inhabited  the  river-valleys  and  the  caves.  Ac- 
cording to  him  also  we  must  distinguish  two  periods,  in  the  first  of  which  the 
caves  were  only  habitations  and  in  the  second  only  places  of  sepulture,  (like  the 
cave  of  Aurignac).  The  habitation  of  the  European  caves,  however,  persisted 
partially  into  historical  times,  and  many  were  even  occasionally  made  use  of  in 
the  middle  ages,  as,  for  example,  the  Cave  of  the  Fort  de  Tayac  which  often 
served  as  a  place  of  refuge  in  time  of  war. 

In  accordance  with  this,  Lartet,  in  a  discourse  delivered  at  the  Congress  of  1867, 
distinguished  three  kinds  of  caves  :  i.  Caves  of  the  diluvial  period,  with  remains 
of  the  Elephant,  of  the  large  Cat,  of  the  Cave-Bear,  &c. ;  2.  Caves  oj  the  Reindeer 
period,  which  contain  implements  made  by  the  hand  of  man,  showing  considerable 
artistic  progress;  and  3.  Caves  o/the  latest  stone-age,  with  remains  of  still-living 
and  domestic  animals,  with  numerous  articles  of  pottery  and  polished  or  ground 
stone-axes. 

The  caves  themselves,  according  to  Desnoyers,  originated  by  fissures  in  the 
limestone  rocks,  which  were  subsequently  washed  and  made  wider  and  wider  by 
rivers  and  the  action  of  flowing  water. 

The  use  of  caves  as  habitations  is  still  very  common  among  the  savage  inhabit- 
ants of  extra-European  countries.  The  number  of  the  London  Anthropological 
Review  for  April,  1869,  contains  a  very  interesting  account  of  the  cave-inhabiting 
cannibals  of  South  Africa,  by  Bowker,  Bleek  and  Beddoe,  which  furnishes  suffi" 
cient  evidence  of  the  infinite  savagery  of  these  African  cannibals,  whose  habits 
remind  us  closely  of  our  most  ancient  predecessors  in  Europe.  The  largest  cave 
of  this  kind,  which  was  visited  and  examined  by  the  above-mentioned  gentlemen, 
and  which  was  situated  in  the  mountains  beyond  Thaba  Bosigo,  contained  im- 
mense quantities  of  human  bones,  especially  those  of  children  and  young  people. 
Their  condition  left  no  doubt  for  what  purpose  the  individuals  to  whom  these  bones 
had  belonged,  had  been  brought  to  this  spot.  In  the  back  of  the  cave  there  was  a 
space  enclosed  with  stones  which  had  served  as  a  prison  and  keeping  place  for 
the  victims,  not  destined  for  immediate  consumption. 


290  APPENDIX. 

The  savages,  who  until  recently  had  held  their  human  sacrifices  here,  were  not 
driven  to  this  course  by  hunger,  as  they  inhabited  a  fertile  country  abounding  in 
game.  They  ate  even  their  own  wives,  children  and  invalids ;  and  the  bones  of 
one  young  person  were  still  in  so  fresh  a  state  that  it  could  only  be  supposed, 
that  this  victim  might  have  undergone  his  terrible  fate  within  a  few  months. 

Similar  caves  of  smaller  size  were  scattered  through  the  whole  district  and  were 
still  inhabited  only  thirty  years  ago  by  cannibals,  who  were  the  dread  of  t.'.e  sur- 
rounding tribes.  They  sent  out  hunting  parties  who  lay  in  ambush  among 
bushes  and  rocks  or  at  watering  places  and  carried  off  women,  children  and 
travellers  for  the  purposes  of  cannibalism.  There  still  remain  a  good  many  of 
these  former  cannibals,  and  one  of  them  who  lives  not  far  from  the  cave,  an  old 
fellow  of  some  si.xty  years  old,  was  visited  by  the  travellers. 

Dr.  Bowker,  with  some  friends,  also  visited  the  caves  at  the  sources  of  the  river 
Caledon,  which  are  still  inhabited,  although  not  now,  as  formerly,  by  cannibals. 
Here  also  they  found  an  old  savage  of  the  cannibal  times  and  learned  that 
formerly  the  people  adopted  the  charming  practice  of  setting  traps  for  the  numer- 
ous lions  which  infest  the  district,  by  tying  firmly  in  them  little  children  whose 
crying  was  to  attract  the  lions.  At  present  nearly  all  the  tribes,  by  the  exertions 
of  their  old  chief,  Moshesch,  have  given  up  the  horrible  practice  of  cannibalism. 

The  corpses  of  the  Europeans,  who  fell  in  former  battles  with  these  savages, 
were  eaten  by  them,  with  the  notion  that  by  this  means  the  courage  of  the  de- 
ceased would  pass  into  their  devourers.  Usually  they  ate  only  the  heart,  liver 
and  brain  ;  but  in  times  of  scarcity  they  consumed  the  rest  of  the  flesh. 

(13)  Up  to  July,  1866,  E.  Dupont  had  examined  at  the  cost  of  the  Belgian  govern- 
ment no  fewer  than  twenty-one  caves  on  the  banks  of  the  Lesse  in  the  province  of 
Namur.  Among  these  there  ■vre.re/our  in  which  numerous  traces  of  the  Belgian 
Reindeer-man  occurred,  namely,  the  Trou  des  Noutons,  Trou  du  Frontal,  Trou 
Rosette  and  Trou  de  Chaleux.  The  animals,  whose  bones  were  found,  belong 
either  to  living  species  or  to  such  as  have  quitted  the  country,  like  the  Reindeer. 
The  industrial  objects  of  stone  are  all  stone  knives,  and,  (with  the  exception  of  a 
later  discovery  mentioned  on  page  289),  neither  polished  nor  diluvial  stone  axes 
were  found.  But  in  the  Trou  de  Chaleux  alone,  Dupont  found  more  than  thirty 
thousand  such  knives  together  with  numerous  split  bones  of  animals  and  an  im- 
mense mass  of  objects  manufactured  chiefly  from  Reindeer  horns,  such  as  needles, 
arrow  heads,  daggers,  hooks,  &c.  There  were  also  ornaments  made  of  precious 
stones,  bored  shells,  &c.,  pieces  of  slate  with  engraved  figures,  mathematical  lines 
and  the  like,  remains  of  very  coarse  pottery,  and  finally  hearths,  ashes  and  char- 
coal, intermixed  with  broken  bones.  To  judge  from  the  latter  the  liorse  seems 
to  have  served  as  the  principal  diet  of  the  Reindeer-man,  and  next  to  the  horse  the 
Fox  and  the  Water-Rat,  whilst  remains  of  Fishes  occur  but  sparingly.  In  the 
Trou  des  Noutons  no  fewer  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  worked  Reindeer  horns 
were  found  ;  their  acute  tips  may  have  served  chiefly  for  the  manufacture  of  javelins. 
The  Trou  du  Frontal,  which  is  analogous  to  that  of  Aurignac,  has  already  been 
described,  and  contained,  besides  fourteen  human  skeletons,  numerous  flint 
knives,  bones  of  animals,  shells,  hearths,  coals  and  traces  of  fire.  The  Trou  Ro- 
sette also  concealed  the  remains  of  four  buried  men,  whose  skulls  were  completely 
destroyed. 

Dupont  distinguishes  three  epochs  for  the   Belgian   cave-fauna,  just  as  Lartet 


APPENDIX.  291 

had  done  with  regard  to  the  French  caves.  Of  these  the  most  ancient  is  repre- 
sented by  extinct  animals,  such  as  the  Mammoth,  Wooly  Rhinoceros,  Cave-Bear, 
&c. ;  the  second  by  species  still  living  but  which  have  emigrated,  such  as  the 
Reindeer  and  Chamois  ;  and  the  third  or  most  recent  by  living  animals,  some 
of  which  have  been  extirpated  here  by  man,  such  as  the  Stag,  Beaver,  Bear,  &c. 
According  to  him  all  caves  must  be  subordinated  to  one  of  these  three  divisions. 

As  regards  the  antiquity  of  the  Belgian  caves,  all  those  with  contents  must, 
according  to  Dupont,  be  more  ancient  than  the  so-called  "  Blocklehm,"  and  their 
period  comes  between  that  of  the  Boulder  drift  and  stratified  Lehm  and  that  of 
the  "  Blocklehm." 

The  men  of  the  Belgian  Reindeer  period  were,  according  to  Dupont,  small, 
muscular,  active  and  subject  to  diseases.  Their  skulls  had  the  so-called  brachyce- 
phalic  type  in  a  slight  degree  and  ran  into  a  point  ;  the  face  was  flattened,  like 
that  of  the  Turanian  race.  The  whole  aspect  of  these  cave-dwellers  must  have 
been  very  rude. 

Similar  results  were  obtained  by  the  examination  of  the  rubbish  heap  which 
was  accidentally  discovered  in  1867  at  the  source  of  the  Schusse  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Black  Forest  (in  Swabia).  The  Schusse  is  a  little  river  which  flows 
into  the  lake  of  Constance,  and  the  source  of  which  issues  upon  the  high  plateau 
of  Upper  Swabia  between  the  lake  of  Constance  and  the  upper  course  of  the 
Danube,  nearly  in  the  middle  of  the  railway  between  Uim  and  Friedrichshafen. 
Operations  undertaken  for  the  improvement  of  a  mill-pool  th  :re  brought  to  light 
the  characteristic  remains  of  a  complete  station  of  the  Reindeer  period.  More 
than  600  split  flints  were  found  with  such  a  quantity  of  partly  worked  and  partly 
untouched  antlers  and  bones  of  the  Reindeer,  that  Mr.  Oscar  Fraas  was  enabled 
to  put  together  from  these  remains  a  complete  skeleton  of  the  Reindeer  which 
is  now  in  the  Museum  at  Stuttgart.  Most  of  the  bones  were  split  for  the  purpose 
of  getting  the  marrow  out  of  them.  The  bones  of  a  number  of  other  animals, 
now  living  only  in  high  northern  latitudes,  such  as  the  Glutton,  the  Arctic  Fox, 
&c.,  were  also  found.  The  Reindeer  bones  and  horns  showed  numerous  and  un- 
mistakable traces  of  their  having  been  operated  on  by  means  of  stone  instruments. 
There  were  also  numerous  remains  of  Fishes,  and  a  fish-hook  manufactured  from 
Reindeer  horns. 

Not  only  the  careful  investigation  of  the  geognostic  conditions  of  the  place, 
but  also  the  flora  of  the  time  (for  remains  of  mosses  were  found  which  now  live 
only  in  the  extreme  north),  leave  no  doubt  that  the  Reindeer  station  on  the 
Schusse  belongs  to  the  Glacial  epoch,  or  that  it  probably  belongs  exactly  to  the 
interval  between  the  two  Glacial  epochs  which  in  all  probability  Switzerland  has 
experienced.  Mr.  E.  Desor,  at  the  Anthropological  Congress  of  1867,  declared 
the  deposit  in  question  to  be  the  terminal  ntorame  0/  t/ie  Rhine-Glacier,  which 
was  formerly  very  large.  Moreover,  according  to  him,  this  discovery  at  Schussen- 
ried  is  particularly  remarkable,  because  it  is  the  first  example  of  a  station  of  the 
Reindeer-men  in  a  free  and  open  deposit,  their  remains  having  hitherto  been 
found  only  in  caves. 

(14)  P.  Gleisberg  {Kritische  Darstellung  der  Urgeschichte  des  Menschen,  Dres- 
den, 1868)  is  absolutely  of  opinion  that  in  prehistoric  times  African  and  Asiatic 
races  of  men  immigrated  repeatedly  and  alternately  into  Europe,  and  thus  gave 


292  APPENDIX. 

the  main  impulse  to  the  development  of  civilization.  Even  if  this  should  be  cor- 
rect it  would  at  any  rate  furnish  no  objection  to  the  theory  of  development  in 
general,  inasmuch  as  these  immigrant  races  must  have  become  developed  in  their 
own  homes  from  rude  primitive  conditions,  and  unmistakable  traces  of  the  stone 
age  and  its  various  phases  have  been  detected  in  different  parts  both  of  Asia  and 
Africa  (Palestine,  Syria,  India,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Madras,  &c.) 

J.  P.  Lesley  also  (Man's  Origin  and  Destiny)  calls  civilization  "the  blossom 
of  the  mifjration  of  tribes,"  and  is  of  opinion  that  every  great  section  of  history 
has  started  from  some  barbaric  invasion,  as  also  that  the  most  nobly  organized 
races  of  men  had  the  greatest  tendency  to  migrate.  According  to  his  representa- 
tion, the  north  of  Europe  has  seen  three  different  races  of  men,  corresponding  to 
the  three  sections  of  the  stone,  bronze  and  iron  ages,  of  which  the  bronze-men, 
who  came  from  a  great  distance,  first  introduced  the  knowledge  of  metals  and 
their  working,  together  with  the  sense  of  art  and  the  custom  of  burning  the  dead  ; 
whilst  the  tall,  strong,  long-headed  men  of  the  iron  age  represent  the  taste  for 
war  and  conquest,  and  brought  the  tribes  which  preceded  them  into  subjection. 

(15)  Proof  of  this  is  furnished  by  the  very  interesting  speech  on  Primeval  Man 
and  /lis  Progress,  made  by  Sir  John  Lubbock  in  the  year  1867  at  the  Meeting  of 
the  British  Association  at  Dundee,  in  opposition  to  Archbishop  Whateley,  who 
had  defended  the  old  theory  of  perfection.  Lubbock  proves  by  convincing  argu- 
ments that  Whateley's  theory  is  scientifically  quite  untenable,  and  that  not  only 
do  savages  always  show  traces  of  gradual  although  very  slow  progress,  but  traces 
of  former  barbarism  are  by  no  means  wanting  even  among  the  most  civilized  na- 
tions. Many  a  fishing  village  on  the  English  coast  is  still  exactly  in  the  same 
state  in  which  it  was  120  years  ago  It  is  true  that  there  are  here  and  there  peo- 
ples who  have  gone  back  instead  of  advancing ;  but  these  cases  can  only  be  re- 
garded as  exceptions,  whilst  in  general  there  is  no  foundation  in  fact  for  the  as- 
sumption of  a  former  condition  of  perfection.  Metal  implements  and  traces  of 
pottery,  which  is  so  persistent,  have  never  been  met  with  among  peoples  who 
were  unacquainted  with  metals,  as  in  Australia,  New  Zealand,  Polynesia,  &c. 
The  art  of  spinning  also  and  the  use  of  the  bow  are  unknown  to  many  savages  ; 
and  yet  these  are  arts  which,  once  known,  would  never  have  been  lost.  It  is  the 
same  with  house-building  or  with  religion,  of  which  no  trace  could  be  found 
among  many  savages,  and  which  nevertheless,  if  once  existent,  could  not  easily 
have  been  lost ; — or  with  the  art  of  numeration  which  arose  very  gradually  by 
counting  on  the  lingers  and  toes,*  and  even  at  the  present  day  among  many 
tribes  of  Brazil,  Australia,  &c.,  does  not  go  beyond  the  numbers  2 — 4  ; — or  with 
the  use  of  fire  which  is  still  unknown  to  many  tribes,  such  as  the  Dokos  in  Abys- 
sinia (who  know  nothing  of  marriage  or  family,  but  go  quite  nakt-d  and  live  to- 
gether like  animals),  and  which,  if  once  known,  would  certainly  not  have  been 
lost ; — or  with  language,  which  is  so  scanty  among  tlie  Australians,  for  example, 
as  to  possess  only  a  few  hundred  words  and  among  tliese  none  to  express  general 
ideas; — or  with  the  notions  of  marriage,  family,  paternity  and  the  like,  which 
arc  Perfectly  unknown  to  many  savages,  and  which  can  be  demonstrated  to  have 
made  their  way  only  with  the  gradual  advance  of  civilization. 

*  Even  among  civilized  nations,  counting  by  tlie  lingers  and  toes,  (5,  10,  20,)  is 
still  quite  common. 


APPENDIX.  293 

Many  savages  (Australians,  Fiji  or  South  Sea  Islanders,  &c.)  only  recognize 
maternal  descent,  and  the  Egyptians,  Chinese,  Greeks  and  Jews  actually  have 
traditions  as  to  the  introduction  of  marriage. 

Everywhere,  even  among  the  most  civilized  peoples,  we  find  in  superabundance 
the  unmistakable  traces  of  a  former  state  of  barbarism  and  of  the  extension  of  a 
stone  age  over  nearly  the  whole  earth. 

That  people  like  Archbishop  Whateley  are  not  wanting  even  in  Germany  is 
proved  by  an  essay  (of  which  a  second  edition  has  just  appeared),  on  The  Com- 
mencement c/  Organisms,  by  Professor  J.  P.  Baltzer  of  Breslau,  who  takes  the 
field  against  Carl  Vogt  and  his  Lectures  on  The  Printi/ive  History  0/ Man,  with 
what  he  calls  scientific  arguments,  but  in  reality  with  the  whole  theological  armor 
of  the  middle  ages,  and  likewise  endeavors  to  save  the  "  Man  of  Paradise  "  from 
his  expulsion  by  modern  science.  Any  one  who  is  interested  to  learn  how  this 
science  looks  in  the  eyes  of  a  theologian  and  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  present 
day,  may  amuse  himself  for  a  few  hours  by  reading  this  essay. 

The  biblical  Adam  and  the  whole  Judseo-Christian  idea  of  Creation  connected 
with  him,  can  \:\  the  present  day  and  in  the  present  state  of  science  only  be  held 
by  those  who,  like  the  theologians,  will  not  and  therefore  cannot  be  convinced  by 
scientific  arguments.  Thousands  of  preachers,  without  troubling  themselves 
about  the  clear  demonstrations  of  science,  continue  every  Sunday,  to  narrate  to 
the  public  again  and  again  tlieir  childish  tales  about  Paradise,  the  Fall  of  Man, 
the  Creation  of  the  World  in  six  days,  &c.,  &c.,  and  millions  of  hearers  say 
"  amen"  to  them  every  Sunday.  And  what  are  the  scientific  men  doing  while 
this  is  going  on  ?  They  smile  over  these  old  Jewish  legends  and  fables  and  mix 
indifferently  in  the  midst  of  a  multitude  which  appears  as  if  bewitched,  without 
making  what  must  appear  to  them  the  desperate  attempt  to  waken  the  sleepers 
out  of  their  dreams.  And  yet,  as  J.  P.  Lesley  says  in  his  excellent  work  which 
has  been  so  often  cited,  we  might  as  well  believe  in  Aladdin's  Wonderful  Lamp, 
or  that  the  Cathedral  of  Cologne  was  begun  and  finished  before  breakfast  yester- 
day, as  that  man  was  created  only  6,000  years  ago  and  in  a  single  day  !  "  There 
is  no  alliance  possible,"  he  continues,  "between  Jewish  theology  and  modern 
science;  they  are  irreconcilable  enemies.  Geology  i;i  its  present  advancement 
cannot  be  brought  more  easily  into  harmony  with  the  Mosaic  cosmogony,  than 
with  the  Gnostic,  the  Vedic  or  the  Scandinavian.  It  has  escaped  fully  and  finally 
from  its  subjection  to  the  Creed.  .  .  .  Nor  is  the  difficulty  diminished  by 
calling  a  day  a  thousand  years.  We  have  in  palaeontology  the  records  of  a 
thousand  ages.  Many  of  the  old  limestone  strata  are  entirely  made  up  of  corals, 
and  their  triturated  debris.  Some  of  the  old  Devonian  mud-rocks  are  mere 
masses  of  the  casts  of  Brachiopods,  of  every  size  from  the  youngest  to  the  oldest. 
Some  of  the  coal-measure  shales  are  leaved  like  a  book,  and  every  leaf  glistens 
with  delicate  fresh-water  shells.  In  the  Deep-river  basin  of  North  Carolina  mil- 
lions of  fiili-teeth  lie  packed  away  between  two  layers  of  coal  which  lie  but  two 
feet  apart.  There  are  more  than  a  hundred  beds  of  coal  in  a  single  coal 
system,  each  of  which  is  the  result  of  the  growth  of  a  peat-bog,  swamp  and  forest 
of  a  separate  age  ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  many  fathoms  of  rocks  which  intervene 
between  each  one  coal-bed  and  the  next  in  order  over  it;  during  which  long  in- 
terval of  time  the  land  must  have  been  too  deep  below  the  water-level  to  permit 
of  vegetation. — The  fossil  dimg  of  the  fish  which  swam  the  seas  during  the  de- 


294  APPENDIX. 

position  of  the  chalk  of  England,  was  so  abundant,  that  the  farmers  about  Cam- 
bridge collect  it,  as  it  is  set  free  from  the  mother-rock  by  denudation,  and  use  it 
to  manure  their  lands." 

(i6)  "  Linne,  in  his  system,  united  man  with  the  apes  proper,  the  Prosimia  and 
the  bats  in  an  order  which  he  named  Primates,  —  that  is,  sovereigns,  or  as  it  were 
the  highest  dignitaries  of  the  animal  kingdom.  Blumenbach,  on  the  contrary^ 
separated  man  as  a  special  order,  under  the  name  of  Bimana  or  two-handed,  to 
which  he  opposed  the  united  apes  and  Prosimiae  under  the  name  of  Quadrumana, 
or  four-handed.  This  division  was  adopted  by  Cuvier  and  most  of  the  zoolo- 
gists who  succeeded  him.  It  was  only  in  1863  that  it  was  shown  by  Huxley,  in 
his  excellent  Evidence  as  to  Man's  Place  in  Nature,  that  this  rested  on  false 
views,  and  that  the  pretended  'four-handed'  animals  (apes  and  Prosimiae)  are 
just  as  truly  '  two-handed'  as  man  himself.  In  all  these  relations  the  apes  and 
Prosimia;  are  circumstanced  exactly  as  man  ;  and  hence  it  was  altogether  wrong 
to  separate  him  from  the  former  as  a  special  order  on  the  ground  of  the  differen- 
tiation (distinctive  formation,  perfection)  of  his  hand  and  foot.  But  the  case  is 
just  the  same  with  all  other  physical  characters  by  which  one  might  endeavor  to 
separate  man  from  the  apes — the  relative  length  of  the  limbs,  the  structure  of  the 
skull,  the  brain,  &c.  In  all  these  respects  without  exception,  the  differences  be- 
tween man  and  the  higher  apes  are  less  than  the  corresponding  differences  be- 
tween the  higher  and  the  lower  apes." — Prof.  E.  Hjeckel's  Natilrliche  Schlip- 
/ungsgeschichte,  (Berlin,  1868),  pp.  490-gi.  Compare,  in  reference  to  further 
details,  the  Author's  Vorlesungen  fiber  Darwin  (Leipzig,  1868),  p.  147  et  seg. 

That,  moreover,  the  above  alteration  of  the  original  Linnean  system,  proposed 
and  introduced  by  Blumenbach  in  1799,  was  early  recognized  as  false  and  de- 
cidedly condemned  from  the  anatomico-zoological  point  of  view,  may  be  shown 
by  the  following  words  of  the  celebrated  Geoff roy  St.-Hilaire  : — "  When  man  is 
regarded  as  a  group  of  tlie  value  of  an  order,  and  a  position  is  assigned  him  as 
remote  from  the  ape,  as  the  latter  is  from  the  Carnivora,  he  stands  at  the  same 
time  too  near  to  and  too  remote  from  the  higher  mammalia, —  too  near  if  the  ex- 
alted faculties  which  place  man  above  all  organized  beings  be  taken  into  account, 
too  far  if  only  the  organic  affinities  which  unite  him  with  the  Quadrumana  and 
especially  with  the  true  apes,  be  considered  ;  /or  in  a  physical  point  0/  viezv  the 
latter  are  much  nearer  to  man  than  to  their  proper  relatives,  the  so-called 
Prosimiae.  What,  then,  is  the  significance  of  the  order  Bimana  of  Blumenbach 
and  Cuvier  .>  An  impracticable  compromise  between  two  opposed  and  incom- 
patible systems,  it  is  one  of  those  bastard-like  assumptions,  one  of  those  equivocal 
resources,  which,  more  nearly  considered,  satisfy  no  one,  just  because  they  are 
meant  to  please  every  body.  It  is  probably  a  half  truth,  but  also  a  half  false- 
hood ;  for  in  science  what  is  a  half  truth  but  an  error  ?"  At  all  events  this  pas- 
sage proves  that  Huxley's  startling  announcement  relative  to  the  anatomico- 
zoological  position  of  man  can  lay  no  claim  to  novelty. 

(17)  The  whole  arrangement  is  as  follows  : 

1.  Anthropini.     This  family  comprises  man  only. 

2.  Catarrhini,  or  narrow-nosed,  comprising  the  true  .-i[>es  of  the  Old  World. 

3.  Pi.ATYRRHlNi,  or  flat-nosed,  comprising  the  true  apes  of  the  New  World 
or  America. 


APPENDIX.  295 

4.  Arctopitiiecini.  comprising  the  sahuis,  marmosets,  or  American  clawed 
apes. 

5.  Lemurini,  comprising  the  so-called  Lemures  or  Prosimias. 

6.  Cheiromvini,  including  only  the  Cheiromys. 

7.  Galeopithecini,  comprising  only  the  flying  lemur, — a  remarkable  form, 
which  almost  touches  the  bats  in  a  similar  manner  to  that  in  which  Cheiromys 
approaches  the  Rodentia,  and  Lemur  the  Insectivora. 

The  singularity  and  ambiguous  nature  of  Galeopithecus  have  procured  for  it 
the  most  various  names,  as  the  flying  dog  or  fox,  flying  cat,  winged  ape,  &c.  ; 
and  its  arrangement  in  the  system  has  occasioned  to  zoologists  much  perplexity. 
Combining  in  itself  some  characters  of  the  ape  and  of  the  bat  respectively,  it  at 
the  same  time  presents  a  further  series  of  peculiarities  which  have  no  closer  sys- 
tematic connection.  Its  arms,  legs  and  tail  are  enclosed  in  a  thick  and  densely 
hairy  fold  of  skin,  which  commences  at  the  neck,  extends  down  the  flanks  and 
joins  together  both  the  fingers  and  the  toes  like  the  web  of  a  water  fowl  ;  yet 
this  cannot  serve  for  flight,  but  only  as  a  parachute,  by  means  of  which  the  ani- 
mal swings  itself  from  branch  to  branch. 

(18)  It  appears  from  these  communications  that  (independently  of  ancient 
myths)  the  first  authentic  account  of  such  an  animal  proceeded  from  an  English- 
man (Andrew  Battel)  in  the  celebrated  old  book  Purchas,  his  Pilgrimage, 
(1613).  From  A.  Battel,  who  had  lived  for  years  in  the  kingdom  of  Congo,  and 
nine  or  ten  months  in  the  forests  there,  Purchas  heard  "  of  a  kind  of  Great  Apes, 
if  they  might  so  be  termed,  of  the  height  of  a  man,  but  twice  as  bigge  in  feature 
of  their  limmes,  with  strength  proportionable,  hairie  all  over,  otherwise  altogether 
like  men  and  women  in  their  whole  bodily  shape.  They  lived  on  such  wilde 
fruiis  as  the  trees  and  woods  yielded,  and  in  the  night  time  lodged  on  the  trees." 

In  a  later  account  by  the  same  narrator  (1625),  where  two  anthropoid  apes  are 
spoken  of,  he  says  of  the  Pongo,  represented  as  the  larger  : — "  This  Pongo  is  in 
all  proportion  like  a  man ;  but  that  he  is  more  like  a  giant  in  stature  than  a  man  ; 
for  he  is  very  tall,  and  hath  a  man's  face,  hollow-eyed,  with  long  hair  upon  his 
browes.  His  face  and  eares  are  without  haire,  and  his  hands  also.  His  bodie  is 
full  of  haire,  but  not  very  thicke  ;  and  it  is  of  a  dunnish  color.  He  differeth  not 
from  a  man  but  in  his  legs  ;  for  they  have  no  calfe.  He  goeth  alwaies  upon  his 
legs  ;  and  carrieth  his  hands  clasped  in  the  nape  of  his  necke  when  he  goeth  upon 

the  ground.     They  sleepe  in  the  trees,  and  build  shelters  for  the  raine 

They  cannot  speake,  and  have  no  understanding  more  than  a  beaate.  .  .  . 
Those  Pongoes  are  never  taken  alive  because  they  are  so  strong  that  ten  men 
cannot  hold  one  of  them.  .  .  .  When  they  die  among  themselves,  they  cover 
the  dead  with  great  heaps  of  boughs  and  wood,  which  is  commonly  found  in  the 
forest.  .  .  .  One  of  those  Pongoes  tooke  a  negro  boy  of  his  which  lived  a 
moneth  with  them." 

A  generation  later,  Tulpius  was  the  first  to  give  a  picture,  taken  from  life,  of 
"  Safyrus  indicus"  "called  by  the  Indians  orang-outang  or  man  of  the  woods," 
which  was  evidently  a  young  chimpanzee.  Then  the  existence  of  other  Asiatic 
anthropoid  apes  became  known,  though  at  first  the  accounts  were  largely  mixed 
with  fable ;  and  as  early  as  1699  the  Royal  Society  published  a  very  good  and 
serviceable  anatomical  comparison  of  a  so-called  "  Pygmie"  (a  young  Chimpan- 


296  APPENDIX. 

zee  from  Angola  iu  Africa),  with  a  tailed  and  a  tailless  Monkey,  and  with  Man — 
a  work  which  has  served  as  a  model  for  many  later  writers.  The  author,  Tyson, 
starting  even  then  from  views  similar  to  those  of  Huxley  in  our  own  day,  enu- 
merates forty-seven  points  in  which  the  Pygm.e  has  a  greater  resemblance  toman 
than  to  the  tailed  and  tailless  Monkies  ;  and  thirty-four  in  which  the  reverse  is 
the  case,  and  names  it  the  most  human-like  animal  that  has  yet  occurred  to  him. 
In  1744,  William  Smith  {A  New  Voyage  to  Gziinea)  describes  very  accurately  an 
upright-going  anthropoid  ape  from  the  neighborhood  of  Sierra  Leone,  under  the 
name  of  Mandrill  (man-ape),  which  likewise  must  have  been  a  chimpanzee. 
Linne  knew  no  anthropoid  ape  from  his  own  observation  ;  yet  he  enumerates 
four  as  "Anthropomorpha  "  (in  the  treatise  of  his  disciple  Hoppius),  and  even 
speaks  of  one  of  them  as  '■'Homo  caudaius''  (tailed  man).  Buffon,  who  saw  a 
young  chimpanzee  alive,  and  became  possessed  of  an  adult  anthropoid  ape  from 
Asia,  which  he  called  a  Gibbon,  gives  very  excellent  descriptions  of  these  ani- 
mals;  while  a  Dutch  naturalist,  Vosmaer,  in  1778  published  a  very  good  iigure 
and  description  of  a  young  orang  which  had  been  brought  alive  to  Holland  ;  and 
at  the  same  time  his  celebrated  countryman,  Peter  Camper  (1779)  composed  a 
treatise  on  the  Orang-utan,  in  which  he  showed  that  it  formed  by  itself  a  per- 
fectly distinct  species.  He  dissected  several  of  these  animals  of  young  age.  A 
full-grown  orang  of  49  inches  height  was  shot  by  a  Dutch  resident  in  Rembang, 
Borneo,  at  the  end  of  the  last  century,  and  very  accurately  described  by  von 
Wurmb,  a  German  officer.  The  papers  he  has  left  contain  further  descriptions 
of  this  kind,  as  that  of  a  specimen  4  feet  5  inches  in  height.  At  present  we  are 
more  intimately  acquainted  with  the  orang-outan  than  with  any  other  of  the 
anthropoid  apes.  Besides  it,  we  know  in  Asia  only  the  gibbon,  which  is  indeed 
more  widely  distributed  and  hence  more  accessible  to  observation,  but,  on  ac- 
count of  its  smaller  size,  has  attracted  less  attention. 

In  Africa,  on  the  other  hand,  the  accounts  of  the  old  English  adventurer  Battel 
have  been  splendidly  confirmed  by  modern  discoveries.  Since  1835,  not  only  has 
the  skeleton  of  the  adult  chimpanzee  (Troglodytes  niger),  which  is  evidently  the 
smaller  of  the  two  mentioned  by  Battel,  and  named  by  him  (as  it  is  now  in  that 
country)  the  engeko,  becoma  intimately  known  through  Prof.  Owen's  e.xcellent 
work,  but  in  iSig  Bowdich  found  strong  proofs  of  the  existence  of  the  larger 
anthropoid  ape,  named  by  Battel  the  pongo,  by  the  natives  the  ingena,  or  fugena, 
"  five  feet  high,  and  four  across  the  shoulder,"  builder  of  a  house,  outside  of 
which  it  sleeps.  la  1847,  Dr.  Savage  saw  in  the  house  of  the  missionary,  Wilson, 
on  the  Gaboon  river,  the  skeleton  of  this  animal  ;  and  further  inquiries  led  to  so 
accurate  a  knowledge  of  it  that  Prof.  Wyman  was  able  to  give  a  description  of 
its  osseous  structure.  Battel's  pongo  was  thus  discovered  afresh  ;  but  the  fre- 
quent misuse  of  that  name  induced  Dr.  Savage  to  apply  to  the  animal  the  name 
of  Gorilla  (borrowed  from  the  Pcriplusoi  Hanno,  the  Carthaginian).  The  skele- 
ton of  the  Gorilla  has  since  been  investigated  by  Owen  and  Duvernoy  ;  while 
other  African  missionaries  and  travellers  have  increased  our  knowledge  in  other 
respects  of  an  animal  which  has  had  the  rare  fortune  to  be,  of  the  anthropoid 
apes,  the  first  made  known  to  the  world  (by  Battel),  and  the  last  investigated 
scientifically. 

According  to  Huxley,  all  the  anthropoid  apes  have  certain  morphological  char- 
acters in  common.     Thus,  they  all  have  the  same  number  of  teeth  as  man;  the 


APPENDIX.  297 

nasal  cavities  are  divided  by  a  narrow  septum  and  are  directed  downward  ;  the 
arms  are  longer  than  the  legs  and  end  in  hands  which  are  provided  with  thumbs, 
while  the  great  toe  is  always  smaller  and  more  mobile  than  in  Man,  and  oppo- 
sable, like  a  thumb,  to  the  rest  of  the  foot.  None  of  them  has  a  tail  or  the  cheek- 
pouches  common  in  Monkeys  ;  and  all  of  them  are  inhabitants  of  the  Old  World. 
The  accurate  investigation  of  their  mode  of  life  has  ever  been  extremely  difficult, 
as  they  inhabit  only  the  deepest  forests  of  Asia  and  Africa.  The  gibbons  are 
the  best  known,  after  them  the  orangs,  while  of  the  mode  of  life  of  the  chimpanzee 
and  gorilla  we  have  the  least  knowledge  from  the  direct  testimony  of  the  Euro- 
peans. Of  the  Gibbon  there  are  about  half  a  dozen  species  distributed  over  the 
Asiatic  islands  of  Java,  Sumatra  and  Borneo,  and  in  Malacca,  Siam,  Arakan  and 
Hindostan.  They  are  only  about  three  feet  in  height  (thus  the  smallest  of  the 
anthropoid  apes)  and  very  slender  ;  they  live  on  trees,  and  in  the  evening  descend 
in  troops  to  the  open  country.  They  have  a  very  loud  and  piercing  voice,  and 
readily  and  iLnllingly  assume  the  upright  gait ;  they  can  also  in  this  position, 
with  a  little  assistance  from  their  very  long  arms  and  hands,  run  swiftly  ;  in  fact, 
testimonies  are  unanimous  that,  oit  level  ground,  this  is  their  usual  a?id  habitual 
practice.  Their  dexterity  in  climbing  and  leaping  is  astonishing.  They  drink 
by  dipping  their  fingers  in  the  liquid  and  then  licking  them,  and  sleep  in  a  sitting 
posture.  Duvaucel  asserts,  that  he  has  seen  the  mothers  carry  their  young  ones 
to  the  water  and  wash  their  /aces!  lu  captivity  they  exhibit  intelligence,  cun- 
ning, mischievousness,  and  a  sort  of  conscience,  as  is  shown  by  an  anecdote  told 
by  Mr.  Bennett.  The  Orangs  seldom  reach  a  height  of  more  than  four  feet  ;  but 
some  are  said  to  have  been  found  between  five  and  six  feet  high.*  They  dwell 
in  the  densest  forests  of  Sumatra  and  Borneo,  and,  as  a  rule,  the  old  males  live 
alone,  except  at  pairing-time.  They  live  perhaps  forty  or  fifty  years,  are  indo- 
lent, and  prepare  themselves  a  bed  of  boughs  and  leaves,  between  or  under  the 
trees,  with  dexterity  and  quickness.  They  generally  lie  on  their  back  or  side, 
resting  their  head  on  their  hands.  In  cold,  windy  and  rainy  nights,  they  cover 
themselves  with  branches,  and  hide  their  heads  therein.  They  climb  very  slowly 
and  cautiously,  more  like  a  man  than  an  ape,  never  make  a  spring,  and  first  test 
the  branches  as  to  whether  they  will  bear,  by  shaking  them.  In  the  wild  state 
very  shy  and  even  dangerous,  they  are  easily  tamed  and  attachable.  When  pur- 
sued they  throw  branches  and  heavy  fruits  from  the  trees.  An  orang  examined 
by  Dr.  Muller  in  captivity,  was  found  by  him  to  possess  great  intelligence  (Ver- 
handlungen  iiber  die  Natitrgeschichte  der  iiberseeischen  Besitzungen  von  Hol- 
land, 1839-45).  The  Dyaks  of  Borneo  distinguish  several  species  of  Orang  ;  but 
these  perhaps  may  correspond  to  individual  variations,  which  among  the  orangs 
are  very  great.  The  skulls  available  show  as  great  variation  as  the  most  pro- 
nounced forms  of  the  Caucasian  and  the  African  races  in  Man.  Similar  facts  are 
met  with  in  considering  the  two  African  apes,  the  Chimpanzee  and  the  Gorilla. 
Of  the  adult  Chimpanzees  measured  by  Dr.  Savage  none  exceeded  five  feet  in 
height.  They  stand  upright,  leaning  somewhat  forwards,  but  readily  fall  again 
upon  all  fours,  in  which  position  the  hands  touch  the  ground,  not  with  the  inner 

*  According  to  Spencer  St.  John,  {Life  in  the  forests  of  t  lie  Far  East  ,■  London, 
1802,)  the  orang-outan  attains  in  Borneo  the  height  of  five  feet  two  inches  ;  while 
among  the  natives  even  five  feet  five  inches  is  considered  a  tall  stature,  and  the 
average  is  five  feet  three  inches. 


298  APPENDIX. 

surface,  but  with  the  thickened  ossicles  of  the  outer  side.  They  are  good  climbers, 
live  in  company,  yet  seldom  more  than  five  together ;  they  defend  themselves 
chiefly  with  their  teeth,  make  nests,  or  beds  on  the  lower  branches  of  the  trees, 
show  in  tlieir  habits  a  high  degree  of  intelligence,  especially  much  affection  for 
their  young,  and  are  said  by  the  hunters  to  display,  when  pursued  and  wounded, 
a  very  human-like  deportment.  The  natives  say  that  the  chimpanzees  were  once 
members  of  the  human  race,  but  were  excluded  from  the  society  of  man  on  ac- 
count of  bad  conduct,  and  little  by  little  degenerated  to  their  present  condition.* 
The  chimpanzee  is  found  from  Sierra  Leone  to  Congo,  and  it  appears  that  there 
are  several  species  of  them. 

The  Gorilla  or  pongo  (the  latter  name  probably  a  corruption  of  Mpongwe, 
the  name  of  the  race  of  men  in  whose  country  the  gorilla  is  met  with),  dwells 
on  both  sides  of  the  river  Gaboon,  in  Lower  Guinea,  West  Africa  ;  it  is  named 
Engena  by  the  natives,  attains  a  height  of  about  5  feet,  is  very  broad  between 
the  shoulders,  and  quite  covered  with  coarse  black  hair,  which  with  age 
becomes  grey — except  the  face  and  ears,  which  are  naked  and  of  a  dark  brown 
color;  the  skull  bears  a  strong  longitudinal  and  a  slighter  transverse  hairy  crest, 
which  the  animal  can  move  up  and  down.  The  neck  is  short  and  thick;  the  arms 
are  very  long,  reaching  below  the  knee,  and  the  hands  very  large.  The  gait  is 
waddling,  and  the  motion  of  the  forward-leaning  body  rolling,  or  from  side  to 
side.  Like  the  chimpanzee,  the  animal  reaches  its  long  arms  to  the  ground  and 
then  throws  the  body  forward  between  them  with  a  half  springing,  half  swinging 
motion.  When  it  assumes  the  erect  position  (to  which  it  is  said  to  be  much  in- 
clined), it  balances  its  huge  body  by  bending  its  arms  upward.  The  gorillas  also 
live  in  companies,  which,  however,  are  less  numerous  than  those  of  the  chim- 
panzees, and,  as  a  rule,  contain  only  one  full-grown  male  ;  for  as  soon  as  the 
young  males  become  adult  they  fight  for  the  supremacy,  and  the  strongest  kills  or 
drives  away  the  rest.  Their  dwellings  are  like  those  of  the  chimpanzee.  The 
gorillas  are  very  savage  and  dangerous,  and  never  flee  from  man,  as  the  chim- 
panzees do ;  they  are  hence  objects  of  terror  to  the  natives,  and  are  never  at- 
tacked by  them.  In  time  of  danger  the  females  and  young  hide  themselves,  while 
the  male  furiously  rushes  on  the  foe.  These  communications  from  Dr.  Savage 
were  confirmed  by  a  letter  from  Mr.  Ford  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  Philadel- 
phia, in  1852.  He  says  that  the  gorilla  inhabits  the  mountain-ranges  of  the  in- 
terior of  Guinea,  from  the  Cameroon  in  the  north  to  Angola  in  the  south,  and 
about  100  miles  inland,  and  only  in  the  south  approaches  within  10  miles  of  the 
coast.     Formerly,  he  said,  it  was  found  only  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  sources 

*  The  apes  are  more  acknowledged  as  broth  ■'•s  by  savage  or  primitive  tribes 
than  by  our  modern  civilization.  According  to  a  communication  from  Prof. 
Bischoff,  the  negroe.s  in  Guinea  and  the  natives  of  Java  and  Sumatra  look  upon 
the  orang-outan,  (a  word  signifying  "wild  man,"  "man  of  the  woods,")  and  the 
chimpanzee  as  men  who  could  speak,  if  they  would,  but  who,  from  mere  lazi- 
ness, behave  as  if  they  could  not.  The  Siamese  say:  "The  ape  is  a  man, 
certainly  not  very  handsome,  but  nevertheless  a  brother."  (Bowring,  Mission 
to  Siam,  1855.)  And  in  the  ancient  Indian  heroic  poem  Raviajana,  the  wild  tribes 
con.stituting  the  aboriginal  population  of  the  Dekhan,  against  whom  Rama 
fights,  are  called  "apes"  or  "  men  of  the  woods,"  the  island  of  Ceylon  appears 
as  "Laaka,"  and  its  inhabitants  as  apes  or  the  offspring  of  apes.— A'i?/^?  by  t lie 
Author. 


APPENDIX.  299 

of  the  Gaboon,  while  recently  it  boldly  approaches  the  plantations  of  the 
Mpongwe.  This  may  be  the  reason  that  formerly  we  had  scarcely  any  informa- 
tion about  it.  A  specimen  examined  by  Ford  weighed  1 70  lb.  without  the  viscera, 
and  measured  4  ft.  4  inck.  round  the  chcbt.  According  to  the  same  author,  it 
attacks  in  an  erect  position,  with  a  furious  bellowing,  that  may  be  heard  to  a 
great  distance,  and,  having  thrown  down  its  adversary,  lacerates  him  with  its 
teeth.  A  young  one,  taken  alive,  proved  perfectly  untamable,  and  died  at  the 
end  of  four  months.  Similar  testimonies  are  given  by  French  authors  ;  and 
after  what  we  already  know  of  the  gibbon,  orang  and  chimpanzee,  they  cannot 
very  much  astonish  us.  Particularly,  as  it  has  been  proved  that  the  gibbon 
readily  assumes  the  erect  position,  the  gorilla  is  in  its  entire  structure  much  better 
adapted  fordoing  the  same.  Hence  the  distrust  with  which  the  statements  of  a 
recent  traveller  (Du  Chaillu)  have  been  regarded  is  scarcely  justified,  since  every 
thing  essential  was  known  before.  There  is  absolutely  nothing  improbable  even 
in  his  accounts  respecting  the  Nschiego-Mbouve  a.nd  the  Koolou-Kamba.  Never- 
theless, just  on  account  of  this  distrust,  not  yet  removed,  Huxley  has  avoided 
quoting  Du  Chaillu's  book  in  any  way.  The  author  has  briefly  given  the  es- 
sence of  Du  Chaillu's  account  of  the  gorilla,  the  particularly  anthropoid  koolou- 
kamba,  and  the  nest-building  ape,  the  nschiegombouve,  in  his  worl-,  Aiis  Natur 
und  IVissenscha/t ,  Studien,  Kritiken  tmd  Abhandlungen  (Leipzig,  1869),  H.  Ed. 
p.  297. 

(19)  Thus,  although  in  proportion  to  its  size  it  has  the  largest  brain  of  all  the 
anthropoids,  yet  the  chimpanzee,  and  especially  the  variety  of  it  the  koolou- 
kamba,  which  has  a  very  broad  forehead,  has  a  better  formed  skull,  the  orang  a 
better  formed  brain,  and  the  gibbon  is  superior  in  the  formation  of  his  trunk- 
skeleton,  which  is  very  similar  to  that  of  man.  On  the  other  hand,  the  gorilla 
has  the  shortest  arms  of  all  and  the  greatest  resemblance  to  man  with  respect  to 
the  shoulder-blades  and  the  proportion  between  the  humerus  and  forearm.  The 
same  holds  good  with  respect  to  the  more  elevated  nasal  bones,  the  less-projecting 
intermaxillaries  and  the  human-like  shape  of  the  ear.  The  broad,  human-like 
pelvis,  the  stronger  development  of  the  sciatic  muscles,  and  the  so-called  7nastoid 
processes  of  the  skull,  developed  in  the  gorilla  alone,  lead  to  the  conclusion  that 
he  is  more  adapted  than  other  apes  for  standing  erect.  The  hand  is  peculiarly 
human-like,  having  a  proper  thumb  and  short  fingers,  and  is  attached  to  the  arm 
by  eight  carpal  bones,  as  in  man,  not  nine  as  in  other  apes.  It  is  just  the  same 
with  the  lower  limbs,  which  are  distinguished  by  a  proportionally  strong  de- 
velopment of  the  heel,  making  the  ^ox\\\dLViXQ>x&  plantigrade  than  the  chimpanzee. 
The  number  of  the  vertebra  in  each  of  the  anthropoids  is  the  same  as  in  man  ; 
on  the  other  hand,  the  gorilla  and  chimpanzee  come  nearer  to  man  in  the  number 
of  their  ribs,  which  amounts  to  13,  while  man,  as  a  rule,  has  12  (sometimes  11  or 
13),  and  the  other  apes  possess  14.  The  full-grown  male  gorilla  has  also  a  longi- 
tudinal crest-elevation  on  the  forehead,  which  is  not  generally  possessed  by  the 
other  apes.  The  large  occipital  foramen,  the  more  forward  position  of  which  in 
man  makes  it  possible  for  him  to  maintain  the  erect  posture,  occupies  nearly  the 
same  place  in  the  skull  of  some  of  the  apes  ;  and  the  number,  arrangement  and 
nature  of  the  teeth  are  alike  in  man  and  ape. 

In  the  autumn  of  1864,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Natural    History   Society  of 


300  APPENDIX. 

Rhenish  Prussia  and  Westphalia,  Prof.  Schaaffhausen  exhibited  three  excellently 
finished  plaster  busts  of  the  gorilla,  as  well  as  casts  of  the  brain,  hand  and  foot, 
executed  by  Zeiller,  the  sculptor,  in  Munich,  from  the  animals  which  W.  Schmidt, 
of  Offenbach,  has  prepared  and  stuffed  for  the  city  of  Lubeck.  At  the  same 
time  he  exhibited  photographs  of  the  specimens  in  London,  Paris,  Vienna  and 
Lubeck.  On  the  basis  of  the  Lubeck  animals,  and  availing  himself  of  Prof. 
Owen's  celebrated  memoir,  P.  Meyer,  M.  D.,  Offenbach,  composed  his  exhaustive 
treatise  :  The  Gorilla,  with  a  Consideration  of  the  Differences  between  Man  and 
Ape,  and  the  new  Theory  of  the  Transformation  of  Species.  Subsequently, 
two  more  examples  arriving  at  Offenbach  from  Lubeck,  one  of  them  a  large,  very 
strong,  full-grown  male,  he  added  an  appendix  of  further  details.  Both  of  these, 
especially  the  latter,  are  illustrated  with  very  good  figures,  true  to  nature,  in 
which  the  animal  stands  as  he  is  described  by  Winwood  Reade  in  his  most  recent 
account  of  his  travels  (1864) — erect  on  his  feet,  and  holding  by  the  hands  to  the 
branches  of  the  trees.  The  measurement  of  the  facial  angle  of  a  skull  sent  with 
them,  which  must  have  belonged  to  a  very  old  animal,  gave,  according  to  Meyer, 
55°,  the  capacity  of  the  cranium  being  26  cubic  inches.  The  occipital  foramen 
was  situated  well  forward  towards  the  centre  of  the  basis  cranii  ;  and  the  two 
sole  remaining  lateral  cutting-teeth  were  strikingly  like  human  incisors. 

(20)  The  following  may  be  regarded  as  the  most  essential  marks  of  distinction 
of  man  from  the  animals  most  nearly  related  to  him  : — the  shortness  of  the  upper 
and  the  length  of  the  lower  limbs  in  proportion  to  the  trunk  ;  the  broader  pelvis 
and  scapula  or  shoulder-blade  ;  the  accurate  curve  of  the  vertebral  column,  and 
the  whole  formation  of  the  skeleton,  favoring  the  upright  gait,  and  the  corre- 
sponding parts  of  the  muscular  system  ;  the  shortness  of  the  spinous  processes 
of  the  cervical  vertebrae  ;  the  more  perfectly  formed  hand,  with  its  very  mobile 
and  opposable  thumb,  its  use  favored  by  the  facility  of  movement  of  the  arm  ; 
the  greater  contrast  in  form  and  function  between  hand  and  foot,  and  the  in- 
creased division  of  labor  effected  thereby  ;  the  globose  form  and  the  size  of  the 
skull,  and  its  height  and  largeness  in  relation  to  the  more  retreating  face  and  the 
less-projecting  jaws  ;  the  quicker  coalescence  of  the  so-called  intermaxillary  bones 
and  the  greater  perfection  of  the  so-called  mastoid  processes  of  the  skull  ;  the 
prominent  nasal  bones,  the  projecting  chin,  the  mouth  with  lips ;  the  smaller 
teeth,  constituting  an  uninterrupted  series  of  nearly  equal  height  ;  the  larger  and 
better  formed  brain,  &c.,  <&c.  All  these,  however,  are  more  or  less  relative  and 
are  balanced  by  manifold  intermediate  and  transitional  stages  in  savage  and  ex- 
tinct races  of  man  and  other  animals.  Here,  too,  as  everywhere.  Nature  knows 
no  abrupt  transitions,  but  only  variations  in  a  gradual  development  which  every- 
where pursues  the  same  fundamental  plan.  The  oft-quoted  J.  P.  Lesley,  here 
again,  well  says  :  "The  differences  which  subsist  between  man  and  ape  and  be- 
tween the  different  races  of  man,  as  well  as  those  between  the  different  races  of 
apes,  are  only  variations  of  the  great  fundamental  plan  common  to  all.  Take 
for  example  the  ideal  brain-case.  It  may  be  more  simioid  or  more  anthropoid  ; 
it  may  be  dolicho  or  brachycephalic,  have  a  low,  retreating,  or  a  high,  erect  fore- 
head ;  it  may  exhibit  a  perfectly  even  rotundity,  or  be  lumpy  and  knotty  like  the 
root  of  a  bay  tree  ;  it  may  be  high  and  pointed,  or  enormously  depressed  between 
the  ears ;  it  may  bulge  out  over  the  ears,  or  before  and  behind,  and  be  ridged  and 


APPENDIX.  ^Qj 

TeZ^wil7V't"  '°T'  y^'^"'h-^  -^  differences  w  are  accustorr^ed  to 
root  T^  ".",  T  °"''  "'  ''  ^'  ^'^'^^'^^^  °"^  ^'^P^  *«  ^he  forest  of  the 
Si    Ti'  "  "^  ''  °^  °""  °^  ''"•?■"''"•  «■••  ^''"  ^'«"".  of  execution  in  de- 

mon to  riir.r""."  T  "''•''''•  '^^""^  '-^P'^'"^^  '°  ^'^  P"P"«  ^he  plan  com- 
rnon  to  alGoth.c  churches,  would  show  them  the  different  modes  in  which  the 
fundamental  idea  of  this  plan  is  carried  out  in  the  different  churches  of  Europe." 

(2,)   "The  human  body,"  says  George  Pouchet  in  an  excellent    treatise   on   an- 
thropo  ogical  studies  (J^evu.  ^e /a  Plulosopine  positive,  1866,  No.  2),  "furnishes  to 
general  anatomy  not  a  single  new  fact.     It  neither  possesses  any  special  tissue 
nor  any  spec.al  anatomical  element  ;  nay.   it  even  lacks  certain  anatomical  ele- 
mentary parts  which  are  found  in  other  Vertebrates- for  example,  the  so-called 
electric  tissue.     This  positively  established  point  in  general  anatomy,  as  well  as 
everything  we  know  of  the  properties  of  organized  matter,  enables  us  already  to 
Irovf/t^  the  worthlessness  of  certain  anthropological  theories.     It  is  now  fully 
proved  that  all  functions  and  all  faculties  of  the  living  being  can  be  reduced  to 
he  properties  of  the  elements  and  tissues  of  which  it  is  composed.     We  prefer 
he  term  function  for  the  phenomena  of  what  is  called  vegetative  life,  and  faculty 
or  certain  phenomena  of  'animal  life;'  but  the  faculties  just  as   much  as  the 
functions,  are  only  the  external  manifestation  or  interpretation   {traduction)  of 
certain  properties  which  reside  in  organized  matter,  and  especially  in  certain  ana- 
tomical elements.     In  order,  therefore,  to  justify  the  admission  of  the  existence  of 
a  new  and  essentially  peculiar  f.aculty  in  man.  such,  for  instance,  as  has  been 
made  out  of  -  reUgiousness^  at  least  a  peculiar  anatomical  tissue  for  it  would 
have  to  be  specified;  for  a  faculty  unconnected  with  the  other  animal  faculties 
and  independent  of  an  organic  basis,  is  now-a-days  inconceivable,  e.xcept  in  con- 
tradiction to  all  our  anatomical  knowledge. 

"If  we  pass  from  general  to  comparative  anatomy,  we  here  also  find  no  phe- 
nomenon of  importance  which  is  absolutely  proper  to  man,  except  the  volume 
of  his  cerebral  hemispheres.  All  the  other  characters  are  subordinate  and  of 
equal  value  with  the  differences  observed  between  the  Mammalia  themselves  If 
we  were  determined  to  find  the  sign  of  man's  predominance  in  his  upright  gait 
or  m  the  arrangement  of  the  tendons  of  his  hands,  our  judgment  would  be  Tike 
that  of  the  Athenian  philosopher  who  defined  man  as  '  an  animal  with  two  Ws 
and  without  feathers.'  Diogenes  threw  a  plucked  fowl  to  him  over  the  walls  of 
the  academy,  thus  ridiculing  the  wretched  logic  of  the  master." 

(22)  On  this  affair  of  Professor  Owen,  and  on  the  general  question  of  man's 
place  in  nature.  Prof.  Broca.  in  his  Report  for  ,863,  (Report  on  th.  Transactions 
0/  the  Anthropological  Socety  0/  Pa,  is),  expresses  himself  as  follows  • 

"  From  the  zoological  or  anatomical  point  of  view,  man  differs  less  from  the 
four  higher  Apes  than  they  do  from  the  rest  of  the  apes.  With  them  he  consti- 
tutes a  natural  group,  ih^  Anthropomorpha,  of  which  he  forms  only  the  first  sub 
division  ;  and  our  learned  colleague.  Prof.  Charles  Martins,  of  Montpellier  has 
made  us  acquainted  with  two  new  osteological  characters  which  are  met  wiih  in 
this  group  alone.  .  .  .  Man  is  man  through  his  intellect  ;  and  if  he  be  dis 
tinct  from  the  lower  animals,  he  must  be  so  by  virtue  of  his  brain  which  is  the 
organ  of  intelligence.     Nevertheless  anatomy  finds  between    the   brain  of  the 


302  APPENDIX. 

chimpanzee  and  that  of  the  lord  of  the  earth  only  slight  differences  of  form  and 
constitution,  which  have  been  pointed  out  by  M.  Auburtin.  The  distinctive 
marks  asserted  by  Prof.  Owen  have  been  repeatedly  recognized  as  inaccurate. 
The  higher  apes,  like  ourselves,  possess  a  posterior  lobe  of  the  cerebrum,  a  posterior 
cornu  of  the  large  lateral  ventricle  of  the  brain,  and  a  hippocampus  minor  ;  and 
nothing  in  the  order  of  things,  except  the  very  cousiderable  difference  of  volume 
and  the  unequal  abundance  of  the  secondary  convolutions,  entitles  us  to  assume 
a  decided,  absolute  difference  between  the  brain  of  the  lowest  man  and  that  of 
the  highest  ape." 

(23)  As  early  as  1861,  Huxley  pointed  out,  as  the  only  differences  between  the 
brain  of  the  ape  and  that  of  man,  the  following: — i,  in  the  ape  the  brain,  in 
comparison  with  the  nerves  which  issue  from  it,  is  smaller  than  in  man  ;  2,  in 
the  ape  the  cerebrum,  in  comparison  with  the  cerebellum,  is  not  so  large  as  in 
man  ;  3,  the  convolutions  are  less  complex  and  more  symmetrical  in  the  simian 
than  in  the  human  brain  ;  4,  the  hemispheres  are  rounder  and  deeper,  and  the  pro- 
portions of  the  individual  lobes  to  one  another  more  varied.  Finally,  in  the  simian 
brain  certain  windings  and  furrows  are  altogether  wanting  or  only  present  in  a 
rudimentary  condition.  At  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  1862,  the 
anatomist  Flower  and  Prof.  Rolleston  took  part  with  Huxley  in  opposition  to 
Owen  ;  and  Rolleston  would  only  admit  as  valid  four  differences  between  the 
human  and  the  simian  brain —  two  qualitative  and  two  qtia7ititative.  These 
differences  relate,  i,  to  weight  and  height ;  2,  to  the  facial  angle  and  the  division 
of  the  windings  and  foldings  of  the  brain.     Thus  Owen  was  quite  isolated. 

In  an  altogether  similar  manner  the  French  savant  Gratiolet,  perhaps  the 
highest  authority  in  the  department  of  cerebral  anatomy,  expresses  himself  on 
the  difference  between  the  human  and  the  simian  brain.  He  says  that  the  former 
has  throughout,  the  same  type  (character  of  formation)  as  the  brain  of  the  ape. 
The  cerebellum  of  the  ape  is  quite  covered  behind  by  the  cerebrum.  This  latter 
has  very  much  reduced  olfactory  lobes,  and  large  cornua  to  the  lateral  ventricles. 
The  optic  nerve  vanishes,  as  in  man,  almost  entirely  in  the  large  hemispheres  of 
the  brain  ;  while  in  the  other  Mammalia  it  has  its  own  centre,  the  corpora  quad- 
rigemina.  The  convolutions,  too,  are  essentially  the  same,  even  to  some  varia- 
tions. Hence  all  the  differences  relate  only  to  subordinate  characters  ;  and  the 
most  essential  of  them  relate  to  the  development  of  the  convolutions  during  foetal 
life. 

iAdiy^T  (Verhandl.  der  Niederrhein.  Gesellscha/t  fiir  Naturkunde,  Nov.  7, 
1862)  indicates  as  a  principal  characteristic  of  the  brain  of  the  ape  in  comparison 
with  that  of  man,  together  with  the  smoother  upper  surface  of  the  posterior 
lobe,  "  the  tapering  of  the  anterior  lobe,  and  the  great  concavity  of  its  under 
surface."  Indeed,  besides  the  difference  of  size,  the  development  of  the  anterior 
or  frontal  lobes  being  so  much  inferior  to  that  of  the  rest  of  the  brain,  may  es- 
tablish the  most  essential  distinction  of  the  simian  from  the  human  brain  ;  as  is 
well  known,  the  frontal  lobes  stand  in  an  altogether  special  relation  to  intelli- 
gence and  have  recently  been  recognized  as  the  proper  seat  of  the  organs  of  the 
exceedingly  important  /acuity  0/  speech.  Hence,  then,  by  his  protruding,  broad 
and  strongly  developed  forehead,  which  corresponds  to  the  fore  part  of  the  cere- 
brum, man  is  very  essentially  distinguished,  even  at  the  first  glance,    from   all 


APPENDIX.  303 

animals,  and  especially  from  his  cousins,  the  anthropoid  apes.  In  this  respect  a 
transition  between  man  and  animal  is  formed  by  the  negro,  whose  narrow  and 
retreating  form  of  forehead  is  likewise  connected  with  a  proportionately  smaller 
development  of  the  anterior  lobes  of  the  cerebrum,  and  who  not  in  this  respect 
alone,  but  also  in  the  formation  of  the  rest  of  his  brain,  as  well  as  the  structure 
of  his  whole  body,  is  well  known  to  have  many  perceptible  resemblances  to  the 
ape.  According  to  Huschke,  the  brain  of  the  negro,  by  the  preponderance  of  its 
long  diameter,  the  incompleteness  of  its  convolutions,  the  shallowness  and  nar- 
rowness of  its  anterior  hemispheres,  the  roundish  form  of  its  cerebellum,  the 
largeness  of  its  so-called  vermiform  process  and  the  proportionally  larger  pineal 
gland,  stands  decidedly  at  a  lower  and  less  perfect  stage  of  development,  corre- 
sponding on  the  one  hand  to  the  form  of  a  new-born  European  infant,  and  on 
the  other  to  that  of  the  animals  next  to  man.  Generally,  the  differences  in  brain 
between  higher  and  lower  races  of  men  are  quite  the  same  as  those  between  the 
brains  of  man  and  ape.  Prof.  J.  Marshall  {Proceedings  0/  the  Royal  Society) 
found  in  the  brain  of  an  old  Bushwoman,  which  was  very  small  (weighing  only 
2114^  ounces),  the  convolutions  much  less  developed,  simpler  and  less  marked  by 
secondary  furrows  (sulci)  than  the  brain  of  European  women, —  as  generally  a 
stronger  or  more  numerous  formation  of  sulci,  according  to  R.  Wagner  (Vor- 
stiidien,  &c.),  occurs  in  the  brains  of  persons  of  extraordinary  intelligence,  and  is 
characteristic  of  them.  The  observations  of  the  same  gentleman  have  established 
the  important  fact  that  in  the  brains  of  human  foetuses  of  five  or  six  months 
there  is  met  with  a  formation  perfectly  like  that  in  the  lowest  ape.  This  fact 
confirms  afresh  the  old  principle  of  organic  morphology,  that  the  human  embryo 
repeats  in  its  successive  transformations  the  forms  of  the  lower  animals,  which 
have  remained  at  those  lower  stages  of  development. 

In  relation  to  the  distinction  of  the  human  from  the  animal  brain,  the  greatest 
weight  has  always,  and  rightly,  been  attached  to  relative  size,  although  size  by 
itself  is  only  a  rough  or  imperfect  standard  for  the  determination  of  the  mental 
value  of  a  brain  ;  for,  on  the  one  hand,  it  is  essential  to  consider  the  ratio  of  the 
size  of  the  body  to  that  of  the  brain,  and,  on  the  other,  X.he.  grey  substance  only, 
which  covers  the  surface  of  the  brain,  can  be  regarded  as  the  seat  of  consciousness 
and  of  the  higher  mental  activities,  while  the  white  substance  is  rather  the  con- 
ductor and  medium  of  the  nerve-forces  which  flow  to  and  from  the  brain.  Hence, 
then,  the  great  value  and  significance  of  the  furrows  and  convolutions  of  the 
brain  ;  for  the  more  numerous  and  deeper  these  are,  the  greater  the  development 
of  the  grey  substance. 

It  is  not  surprising  then,  if,  for  example,  the  brain  of  the  elephant,  weighing 
from  8  to  10  lbs. ,  exceeds  the  human  brain  in  absolute  size  by  more  than  as  much 
again ;  yet  the  ratio  of  its  weight  to  that  of  the  whole  animal  amounts  to  only 
■j-g*^,  while  the  human  brain  makes  up  -^^  or  ^L  of  the  whole  body.  The  whale's 
brain  also  exceeds  the  human  brain  in  absolute  size.  The  brain  of  man  and  that 
of  an  anthropoid  ape  are  more  comparable  in  respect  of  absolute  size,  since  here 
the  proportions  of  the  size  of  the  body  nearly  agree,  while  the  human  brain  far 
exceeds  that  of  these  apes  in  volume  and  weight;  for  while  Welcker  estimates 
the  average  cranial  capacity  of  an  adult  man  to  be  1375  cubic  centimetres,  he  says 
that  of  the  largest  of  the  anthropoids,  the  gorilla,  never  exceeds  500.  Expressed 
in  cubic  inches,  the  cranial  capacity  of  the  Gorilla  varies  from  26  to  34  cubic 


304  APPENDIX. 

inches,  while  that  of  Caucasian  man  amounts  to  from  92-114,  and  in  individual 
cases  still  more.  Of  course  this  very  considerable  difference  is  again  very  much 
reduced  in  the  case  of  the  colored  or  lower  races  of  men,  as  Malays,  Chinese, 
negroes,  American  Indians,  &c.,  the  capacities  of  whose  crania,  according  to  the 
accurate  measurements  of  Morton,  Prof.  Wyman  and  others,  are  as  low  as  from 
85  to  75  cubic  inches,  and  those  of  the  Hottentots  and  Alfurus  have  minima  of 
65  and  63  cubic  inches.  Individual  Hindoo  skulls  are  said  to  have  been  met  with 
having  an  internal  capacity  of  no  more  than  46  cubic  inches.  The  average 
cranial  capacity  of  the  gorilla  amounts  to  26-29  cubic  inches,  that  of  various  apes 
or  the  much  smaller  chimpanzee  to  21-26.  The  cranial  space  of  human  microce- 
phali  or  "  small  heads  "  may  even  fall  considerably  below  the  mean  of  the  simian. 

As  to  weight,  human  brains  have  been  known  of  2,  3,  4,  and  even  nearly  5 
pounds,  while  the  brain  of  a  large  o.\  or  horse  does  not  weigh  2  pounds.  Negro- 
brains  weigh,  on  the  average,  about  3  lb.*  ;  while  the  weight  of  brain  of  the  large 
anthropoid  apes  varies  from  10  to  20  oz.  According  to  Huxley,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  a  healthy  brain  of  an  adult  man  ever  weighs  less  than  31  or  32  ounces 
(or  about  2  lb.),  and  whether  the  heaviest  gorilla-brain  ever  exceeded  20  ounces  ; 
while  he  gives  the  weight  of  the  largest  known  human  brain  as  65  or  66  ounces 
(4  lb.  2  oz.).  Moreover,  R.  Owen,  in  the  3rd  vol.  of  his  Anatomy  0/  the  Verte- 
brata  (1868),  states  that  the  brain  of  an  Australian  woman  weighed  32  ounces, 
that  of  a  Bushwoman  only  30^  ounces,  while  the  brain  of  Cuvier,  the  celebrated 
anatomist,  weighed  64  ounces  (or  4  lb.). 

The  so-called  Camper's  facial  angle,  which  is  a  good  index  of  the  development 
of  the  anterior  portion  of  the  brain,  amounts  in  the  Caucasian  race  to  80-85°,  'n 
the  negro  to 65-70°,  in  the  Neanderthal  skull  to  56-66°,  and  in  the  orang  and 
chimpanzee  to  not  quite  50°.  Besides,  all  the  proportions  of  the  skull  and  brain 
are  disproportionately  more  favorable  as  to  form  xn young  2li^^s  than  in  full-grown 
or  old  ones,  the  chief  reason  being  that  after  birth  the  sinii»n  skull  no  longer 
continues  to  advance  pari  passu  with  the  other  parts,  but  is  retarded  in  its  de- 
velopment and  finally  remains  stationary,  similarly  to  the  skulls  of  microcephalic 
or  little-headed  men. 

(24)  These  lowest  kinds  of  organic  propagation  were  for  a  long  time,  during 
the  earliest  periods  of  the  earth's  history  and  its  peopling  with  organic  life,  the 
only  ones  generally  subsisting,  and  are  even  now  widespread  in  the  lowest  re- 
gions of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  under  the  name  of  asexual  propagation  or 
amphigony  (Hasckel).  The  simplest  organic  corpuscles  we  are  acquainted  with, 
and  which  consist  of  merely  an  amorphous  minute  clot  of  mucus,  the  so-called 
Monerce,  propagate  themselves  only  by  a  circular  constriction  of  the  substance  of 
their  body  and  a  consequent  self-division.  The  so-called  cells,  and  those  organ- 
isms which  consist  only  of  simple  cells  (as  for  example,  the  Aniabcs),  do  the  same 
only  with  this  difference,  that  in  them  a  constriction  and  division  of  the  nucleus 
precedes.  Higher  organisms,  those  consisting  of  groups  of  cells,  also  propagate 
themselves  by  division —  as,  for  instance,  the  coral-animals. —  Gemmation  is  not 
less  widespread  than  propagation  by  division  ;    it  takes  place  by  a  prominence 

*  In  the  American  war  141  negro  brains  were  weighed,  the  average  weight  of 
which  amounted  to  46.  96  oz.,  while  the  weighings  of  another  observer  brought 
out  a  mean  of  45  oz.  The  largest  of  these  141  brains  weighed  56  oz.,  or  2%  lb-, 
the  smallest,  only  35  ^  oz. 


APPENDIX.  305 

rising  from  the  original  (one-  or  more-celled)  organism,  becoming  larger  and 
larger,  and  finally  either  separating  from  the  parent  organism  as  an  independent 
being,  or  else,  while  remaining  connected  with  the  latter,  yet  carrying  on  an  in- 
dependent life  and  growth  of  its  own.  Bud-formation  is  more  general  in  the  vege- 
table than  in  the  animal  kingdom. —  With  bud-formation  is  closely  connected  a 
third  and  a  fourth  mode  of  asexual  propagation,  or  that  by  the  formation  of 
spores  and  germ-buds,  in  which  the  parent  organism  forms  in  its  interior  single 
cells  or  groups  of  cells,  which  afterwards  quit  it  and  are  further  developed  by 
themselves.  This  formation,  in  which  only  a  very  minute  portion  of  the  produc- 
ing organism  effects  the  propagation,  conducts  us  at  once  to  sexual  generation, 
which  is  the  usual  one  among  all  the  higher  animals  and  plants  ;  its  characteris- 
tic is  that  the  female  ovum  or  germ-cell  must  be  fertilized  by  male  semen  in  order 
to  attain  the  capability  of  further  development.  Moreover,  two  separate  individ- 
uals of  different  sexes  are  not  always  required,  since  in  the  case  of  hermaphrodites 
a  single  individual  combines  in  itself  both  generative  elements.  It  is  evident  that 
the  separation  of  the  sexes  was  developed  from  the  formation  of  hermaphrodites 
and  first  took  place  at  a  much  later  period  in  the  earth's  history.  It  is  now  the 
general  mode  of  propagation  of  the  higher  animals,  while,  on  the  contrary,  it  is 
found  in  a  smaller  number  of  cases  among  plants.  In  it  the  female  individuals 
form  only  ova,  the  male  only  semen,  or  (among  plants)  pollen-grains.  An  inter- 
esting transition-form  between  asexual  and  sexual  generation  is  what  is  called 
partheno-genesis  or  (virgin  generation),  which  is  frequent  among  the  Articulata; 
here  the  germ-cells,  perfectly  resembling  in  appearance  ovum-cells,  develop  into 
new  individuals  without  any  need  of  the  fertilizing  semen.  In  many  cases,  from 
the  same  germ-cells  different  individuals  spring,  according  to  whether  they  have 
been  fertilized  or  not  :  thus,  of  the  honey-bees,  males  (the  drones)  spring  from  not 
fertilized,  females  or  workers  from  fertilized  ova.  (According  to  Haeckel :  Natiir- 
liche  Schop/ungsgeschichte,  1868.) 

(25)  The  discovery  of  this  pair  of  bones,  which,  present  in  all  Mammalia,  are 
situated  between  the  upper  jaw-bones  proper,  and  bear  the  four  upper  incisors, 
was  rendered  difficult  in  man  because  they  very  early  coalesce  with  the  upper 
jaw-bones  (maxillaries),  and  are  only  recognizable  in  the  skulls  of  very  young 
subjects.  In  human  embryos  the  intermaxillary  may  be  exhibited  at  any  time  ; 
and  in  some  few  individuals  it  is  preserved  distinct  during  their  whole  life.  This 
discovery,  of  course,  rendered  quite  untenable  the  opinion  of  the  older  natural- 
ists, that  the  intermaxillary  constituted  a  prime  mark  of  distinction  between  man 
and  ape. 

Moreover,  Dr.  Carus  has  recently  discovered  an  independent  intermaxillary  in 
the  skulls  of  two  Greenlanders  and  expressed  his  opinion  that  this  character  is 
perhaps  common  to  all  Greenlanders'  skulls.  The  separation  is  described  by 
Carus  as  like  that  found  in  the  skulls  of  the  foetus,  as  well  as  in  those  of  quadru- 
peds ;  hence  it  points  to  an  approximation  towards  the  formation  belonging  to 
the  lower  animals. 

(26)  In  support  of  his  views  M.  Schaaffhausen  called  attention  to  a  series  of 
facts  and  investigations  which  have  now  become  the  common  talk  of  the  day,  as  : 
—  the  existence  of  the  large  anthropoid  apes  (which  even  in  Cuvier's  time  were 
held  to  be  fabulous  animals),  and  their  approach  to  the  human  form  ;  the  forms, 


306  APPENDIX. 

discovered  by  geology  and  palaeontology,  showing  the  transition  from  tertiary  to 
recent  times  ;  the  probability  of  the  discovery  of  fossil  or  petrified  human  bones  ; 
the  investigations  concerning  primitive  man  and  his  rude,  auimal-like  condition  ; 
the  resemblance  of  the  lower  human  races,  and  especially  the  negro,  to  apes  and 
other  animals  ;  the  occasional  approximations  of  the  human  structure  to  that  of 
beasts;  the  importance  of  inheritance  in  relation  to  body  and  mind  ;  the  neces- 
sary connection  between  bodily  (especially  cerebral)  organization  and  intelligence, 
&c.,  &c.  As  regards  the  human  r-eason,  which  is  generally  considered  an  insur- 
mountable barrier  between  man  and  animal,  it  is,  according  to  Schaaffhausen, 
only  "  the  result  of  a  finer  and  more  complete  organization,"  as  the  human  body 
can  only  be  regarded  as  the  finest  and  most  perfect  expression  of  animal  organi- 
zation,—  it  is  not  a  gift  of  Heaven  bestowed  equally  on  all  men,  nations  and 
times,  but  a  result  of  universal  human  education  ;  while  even  in  beasts  an  incipi- 
ent tendency  to  all  the  activities  of  the  human  mind  is  to  be  pointed  out,  and  in 
a  higher  degree  the  nearer  they  approach  to  man  ;  for  in  the  animal  mind, 
banished  to  a  narrow  sphere,  the  fundamental  forces  of  the  human  mind  are 
latent.  Thus  reason  is  "  that  higher  qualification  which  proceeds  from  the  pro- 
portionate development  and  completion  of  all  our  soul's  faculties,  to  which  the 
human  family  has  been  gradually  matured,  and  which  will  conduct  it  to  ever 
greater  intelligence,"  &c.  "  The  speech,  too,  of  wild  tribes,  compared  with  the 
languages  of  cultivated  peoples,  is  poor  in  words  and  inflections  ;  many  sounds 
are  absent.  What  is  there  against  the  supposition  that  it  has  been  developed 
from  rude  beginnings,  from  simple  tones  1" 

In  a  treatise  written  in  1853  (therefore  six  years  previous  to  Darwin's)  on  the 
constancy  and  the  transformation  of  species,  which  already  with  forcible  reasons 
combated  the  dogma  of  their  unalterability  and  vindicated  the  transformation 
theory  even  against  men  like  Baer,  Vogt  and  Burmeister,  we  read:  "Should  it 
be  thought  derogatory  to  man  to  regard  him  as  the  last  and  highest  development 
of  animal  life,  and  derive  all  the  superiority  of  his  nature  from  the  perfection  of 
his  organism  .  .  .  especially  as  a  series  of  most  telling  facts  evidence  the 
approximation  of  the  most  highly  developed  ape  to  the  lowest  type  of  man  most 
clearly  ?  But  if  all  the  facts  speak  convincingly  for  a  gradual  transition  from  the 
most  recent  geological  period  to  the  present  state  of  things,  a  like  conclusion 
must  be  valid  also  for  the  earlier  periods  less  known  to  us,  and  the  whole  creation 
must  appear  asa  series  of  organisms  connected  by  propagation  and  development." 

A  few  years  later  the  author,  in  his  lecture  Ueber  den  Zusaynmenhang  der 
Natur-  laid  Lebens-Erscheinungen  (1858),  felt  himself  justified  in  expressing 
positively  his  conviction  of  the  grand  unity  of  all  nature,  animate  and  inanimate, 
and  all  her  phenomena —  a  unity  which  previously  scarcely  any  one  had  ventured 
to  anticipate.  "Superstition  and  miracle,"  says  the  author,  "it  is  true,  vanish 
before  the  new  natural  philosophy,  but  not  the  greatest  miracle,  the  self-consistent 
universe  !  Knowledge  is  never  a  clog  to  the  freest  thought ;  it  can  only  give  new 
wings  to  the  imagination."     The  discourse  concluded  with  the  prophetic  words  : 

"  It  has  always  been  conceded  that  the  idea  of  a  gradual  development  of  organic 
life  by  a  continually  operating  creation  is  bold  and  magnificent  ;  but  it  was 
supposed  to  be  void  of  truth.  It  will  be  no  little  satis/action  to  the  often  erring 
human  mind  when  it  shall  be  shown  that  the  tnost  exalted  thought  we  can  con- 
ceive of  nature  is  also  the  truest !  " 


APPENDIX.  307 

(27)  Nevertheless,  and  in  spite  of  the  materialistic  sentiment  here  and  else- 
where so  openly  expressed,  Mr.  Huxley  (probably  alarmed  at  his  own  boldness 
and  vexed  at  the  shock  given  to  his  bigoted  and  stiff -minded  countrymen)  has  re- 
cently thought  it  necessary  to  give  a  categorical  negative  to  the  worn-out,  but 
still  always  dreaded,  accusation  of  materialism,  thus  abjuring,  at  least  to  a  certain 
degree,  the  bold  spirit  with  which  he  six  years  previously  opposed  the  prejudices 
of  his  time  and  the  outcry  of  ignorance.  At  any  rate,  the  defence  contained  in 
an  article  in  the  February  number  of  the  Fortnightly  Review  for  1869  (which 
created  so  great  a  sensation  in  England  that  several  editions  of  the  number  con- 
taining it  quickly  followed  one  another)  is  so  ambiguous  in  expression  that  at  its 
conclusion  the  reader  is  not  at  all  sure  whether  Mr.  Huxley  has  been  pleading  for 
or  against  materialism.  Only  one  thing  is  clear,  namely,  the  declaration,  "per- 
sonally I  am  not  a  materialist  ;  on  the  contrary,  I  believe  that  materialism  con- 
tains grave  philosophic  error."  Nevertheless  all  the  arguments  in  the  article  are 
as  materialistic  as  possible  and  are  sustained  by  a  materialistic  sentiment  and 
fundamental  view,  and  the  conclusions  arrived  at  are  altogether  materialistic. 
That  anti-materialistic  avowal,  therefore,  can  only  have  been  possible  to  Mr. 
Huxley  by  his  accepting  a  current  error  which  has  been  a  hundred  times  refuted, 
but  still  is  ever  repeated,  and  taking  materialism  in  the  sense  of  a  philosophic 
system  resting  on  a  priori  speculation.  This  designation  may,  perhaps,  have 
been  deserved  by  the  materialism  of  former  ages,  although  that  always,  far  more 
than  all  the  opposite  tendencies,  relied  on  experience  and  actual  fact ;  while  the 
materialism  of  modern  times  does  not  deserve  that  designation  and  ought  much 
rather  to  be  named  a  method  than  a  system.  The  distinction  made  by  Mr.  Huxley 
between  materialistic  method  and  materialistic  system,  adopting  the  former  and 
rejecting  the  latter,  is  quite  inadmissible.  No  one,  Mr.  Huxley  included,  can  now 
say  whither  the  materialistic  method,  which  now-a-days  is  universally  predominant 
in  natural  science,  will  in  time  lead  us  in  the  explanation  of  natural  occurrences, 
and  whether  it  may  not  even  bring  us  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  much-abused 
materialistic  system.  It  is  therefore  very  precipitate  and  at  least  imprudent,  to 
turn  round  upon  general  consequences  or  convictions,  to  the  bringing  on  of 
which  the  works  of  those  who  now  oppose  them  have  most  of  all  contributed. 
Science  cannot  advance  merely  by  experiment  and  observation  ;  supposition  and 
hypothesis  are  also  necessary  and  have  always  been  the  most  decided  pioneers  of 
scientific  progress.  What  we  do  not  know,  we  try  to  guess ;  what  we  are  unable 
to  guess,  we  try  to  investigate  ;  and  what  we  cannot  yet  investigate,  we  must  at 
least  try  to  define  as  sharply  as  possible  as  a  problem  for  future  investigation. 
No  means  must  appear  to  us  too  insignificant  by  which  we  may  hope  to  come 
nearer  the  truth.  Nothing,  then,  is  more  ridiculous  than  that  pride  of  not  know- 
ing, with  which  so  many  respectable  men  of  science  are  at  present  fond  of  acting 
in  opposition  to  materialistic  endeavors.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  actual  igno- 
rance often  hides  behind  this  pompous  profession  of  not  knowing,  it  betrays  very 
little  ardor  for  investigation  when  men  are  always  trying  to  push  into  the  fore- 
ground the  unknown,  and  very  little  penetration  not  to  see  that  the  entirely  rela- 
tive conceptions  of  knowing  and  not  knowrng  cannot  in  this  wise  be  pushed 
asunder  and  contrasted  ;  for,  however  much  we  may  know,  learn,  and  experience, 
behind  it  all  there  will  always  remain  the  territory  of  the  unknown,  immeasurable 
and  to  our  power  of  conception,  impossible  to  estimate.     Then  always  forward 


308  APPENDIX. 

into  this  unknown  land  1  never  backward  !  must  be  the  watchword  of  every  in- 
vestigator and  man  of  science  animated  by  a  genuine  love  of  truth. 

Yet  we  find  Mr.  Huxley  himself,  in  the  above-mentioned  article,  induced  to 
declare  that  the  order  of  nature  is  determinable  by  our  faculties  to  an  unbounded 
degree,  and  in  another  place  he  puts  without  hesitation  "  matter"  and  "natural 
law"  as  the  two  conceptions  which  in  future  are  destined  to  set  aside  all  other 
methods  of  explanation.  "And  as  certainly,"  he  says,  "as  every  future  is  com- 
posed of  a  present  and  a  past,  so  surely  will  the  natural  science  of  the  future  more 
and  more  extend  the  empire  of  matter  and  natural  law,  till  it  becomes  synony- 
mous with  knowledge,  sense  and  action  !  The  consciousness  of  this  great  truth 
weighs,  it  seems  to  me,  like  a  nightmare  upon  many  of  the  best  spirits  of  the 
present  time.  They  watch  what  they  call  the  spread  of  materialism  with  the 
same  feelings  of  terror  and  impotent  anguish  which  the  savage  experiences,  during 
a  solar  eclipse,  when  he  sees  the  great  shadow  creeping  over  the  face  of  the  sun." 

How  little  share,  moreover,  Mr.  Huxley's  inmost  conviction  can  have  in  his  op- 
position to  materialism,  is  as  evident  as  such  a  thing  can  be  from  the  following 
sentences,  which  he  has  ventured  to  write  in  an  article  entitled  Positivism  and  the 
Science  of  the  Present  {Revue  des  Cours  Scientifiques,  Oct.,  i86g),  when  en- 
deavoring to  repel  Mr.  Congreve's  animadversions  on  his  attacks  upon  the  French 
philosopher  Comte  in  his  treatise  The  Physical  Basis  of  Life:  "If  there  is  any 
thing  which  is  clear  in  the  present  progress  of  science,  it  is  the  tendency  to  reduce 
all  scientific  questions,  with  the  exception  of  purely  mathematical  ones,  to  what 
is  called  molecular  physics,  that  is,  to  the  attraction,  repulsion,  motion  and  com- 
bination of  the  smallest  particles  of  matter."  And  further:  "The  phenomena 
of  biology  (the  science  of  life)  are  as  immediately  related  to  molecular  physics  as 
are  those  of  chemistry  ;  and  this  is  a  fact  acknowledged  by  all  chemists  and  biolo- 
gists who  see  beyond  their  own  immediate  occupation."  If  ihisis  not  a  material- 
istic confession  of  faith  in  its  best  form,  coming  very  near  to  "  materialism  as  a 
system,"  the  difference  between  Mr.  Huxley's  views  and  those  of  the  Author  can 
only  lie  in  thedifference  between  their  apprehensions  of  the  idea  of  "  materialism." 

(28)  "The  lower  jaw  from  La  Naulette,"  says  Prof.  Schaaffhausen  (Ueber  die 
Urform  des  menschlichen  Schadels,  1868),  "  shows  a  clearly  animal  prognathism 
(oblique-toothedness)  in  the  absence  of  a  chin,  a  feature  so  important  in  the  ex- 
pression of  the  human  countenance.  Here  the  upper  jaw  takes  part  in  the  prog- 
nathism by  forming  behind  the  cutting-teeth  an  obliquely  directed  surface.  This 
striking  formation  had  not  hitherto  been  observed  ;  it  is  presented  in  a  less  de- 
gree in  the  fossil  jaws  from  Arcy  ;  I  find  it  also  in  the  very  ancient  piece  of  a 
lower  jaw-bone  from  Fritzlar,  in  a  young  jaw  from  Uelde,  in  which  the  canine 
tooth  projects  nearly  4  millimetres  beyond  the  molar,  and  in  the  lower  jaw  from 
Grevenbruck,  which  also  in  the  elliptic  form  of  the  dental  arch  betrays  the  low 
grade  of  its  possessor."  (This  ellipticity,  which  is  also  possessed  by  the  lower 
jaw  from  La  Naulette,  is  due  to  the  narrow  base  of  the  rude  human  skull  and 
the  projection  of  its  upper  jaws  ;  the  dental  arch  of  skulls  of  noble  form  being 
parabolic.  Among  savage  races,  the  inferior  Negroes,  the  Australians  and 
especially  the  Malays,  like  the  apes,  exhibit  this  lengthened  form  of  the  dental 
arch.) 

"  The  shape  of  the  forehead  of  the  Neanderthal  skull,"  says  Schaaffhausen  in 


APPENDIX.  309 

another  place  in  the  same  treatise,  "  the  dentition  and  the  form  of  the  lower  jaw 
from  La  Naulette  and  the  prognathism  of  some  children's  jaws  of  the  Stone  Age 
of  Western  Europe  excel  in  animal-resemblance  any  thing  of  this  kind  which  can 
be  observed  among  living  savages,"  and,  in  a  Report  on  the  Transactions  0/ 
Scientific  Congresses,  he  connects  therewith  the  amply  justified  expectation,  that 
"  tertiary  Man  "  would  "  bring  us  still  more  distinct  tokens  of  animal  form." 

A  report  to  the  London  Anthropological  Society  by  Dr.  Carter  Blake,  the 
Secretary,  on  the  jaw  from  La  Naulette  and  the  condition  of  the  place  where  it 
was  found,  is  contained  in  the  July  and  October  Parts  of  the  Anthropological 
Review,  1867,  p.  294^/  seq.  It  appears  therefrom  that  with  the  jaw  were  found 
a  human  ulna,  two  human  teeth  and  a  fragment  of  a  worked  Reindeer-horn. 
After  a  close  comparison  with  more  than  3000  jaws  of  various  races  of  men,  he 
comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Naulette  jaw  was  contemporary  with  the  mam- 
moth and  rhinoceros  and  presents  characters  which  approximate  it  to  those  of 
the  colored  races  of  man,  especially  the  Australian,  or  even  go  beyond  what  is 
found  in  them.  He  will  not  "  venture  to  deny  its  indubitable  similarity  to  the 
jaw  of  a  young  ape." 

(29)  If  the  idea  of  species  is  indefinite,  that  of  race  is  so,  if  possible,  in  a  still 
higher  degree,  and  consequently  furnishes  the  clearest  proof  of  the  want  of  de- 
terminate marks  of  distinction  between  the  different  species  of  man  and  of  the 
existence  of  innumerable  intermediate  forms  and  transitional  stages.  The  num- 
ber of  human  races  distinguished  by  different  men  of  science  at  different  times 
has  varied  from  two  or  three  to  fifteen  !  and  yet  each  writer  has  his  special  char- 
acters, according  to  which  he  undertakes  the  distinction  of  the  races,  as  color, 
hair,  form  of  skull  or  face,  geographical  distribution,  &c.  The  most  popular 
classification  of  human  races,  and  at  the  same  time  the  simplest,  is  that  of  Link 
and  Cuvier,  who  distinguish  only  Caucasians  (white  men),  Mongols  (yellow  men), 
and  Ethiopians  (black  men)  ;  while  the  celebrated  Blumenbach  added  the  Red  or 
American  and  the  Brown  or  Malayan  Race  ;  and  according  to  Schaaffhausen 
there  are  properly  only  tivo  distinct  races  —  an  Asiatic,  and  an  African — between 
which  all  the  other  forms  may  be  arranged.  Baer  distinguishes  six,  Prichard 
sevejt,  Bromme  ten,  Desmoulins  and  Pickering  eleven,  Bory  de  St. -Vincent  fifteen 
races,  and  so  on. 

Alteration  of  climate,  change  of  dwelling-place  or  of  external  circumstances 
generally  alter  races,  although  never  to  such  a  degree  as  to  make  them  quite  un- 
recognizable ;  for  a  new  race  is  never  a  simple  product,  but  always  a  result  of  tuo 
causes  —  one  represented  by  the  primitive  race,  and  the  other  by  the  nature  of 
the  medium.  Hence  two  different  races  (for  example,  the  Aryan  and  the  Semitic) 
may  both  be  very  much  altered  in  a  foreign  climate  and  yet  never  become  one 
and  the  same  race.  Overlooking  this  important  point  gave  rise  to  many  miscon- 
ceptions and  false  opinions  in  the  old  controversy  on  the  unity  or  plurality  of  the 
human  species.  Moreover,  some  races  can  thrive  very  well,  even  in  foreign  cli- 
mates, and  propagate  their  peculiarities:  for  instance,  the  Jews,  the  Canadians, 
the  New-Hollanders,  the  European  inhabitants  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  (S:c. 

(30)  Mr,  Wallace  (see  The  Malayan  Archipelago,  London,  186S)  was  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  come  into  possession  of  a  very  young,  uninjured  female  Orang  and  to 
keep  it  alive  for  nearly  three  months.     During  this  time  he  was  able  to  observe 


3IO  APPENDIX. 

its  behavior  closely  and  was  astonished  to  see  how  much  it  resembled  that  of  a 
human  child.  "Thus,"  says  he,  "the  poor  little  thing  began  to  lick  its  lips, 
draw  in  its  cheeks  and  turn  up  its  eyes  with  an  expression  of  the  greatest  satis- 
faction when  it  got  a  morsel  that  suited  its  taste.  On  the  other  hand,  when  its 
food  was  not  sufficiently  sweet  or  savory,  it  turned  over  the  piece  a  moment  with 
its  tongue,  as  if  it  would  try  the  flavor,  and  then  spat  it  out.  If  the  same  aliment 
was  continued,  it  began  to  scream  and  to  stamp  with  its  feet,  just  like  a  child  in 
a  passion.  It  was  its  usual  tactic  to  scream,  if  it  thought  itself  neglected  and 
wished  to  attract  attention,  although  it  exhibited  its  mental  superiority  to  the 
human  child  by  gradually  ceasing  to  scream  when  no  notice  was  taken,  but  im- 
mediately began  again  if  it  heard  any  one's  footstep.  During  its  illness,  which 
ran  its  course  like  an  intermittent  fever  and  killed  it,  it  exhibited  phenomena  alto- 
gether human-like." 

Mr.  Wallace  also  communicates  many  interesting  details  respecting  the  adult 
Orang.  The  most  remarkable  is  its  custom  of  preparing  itself  a  sleeping-place 
for  the  night.  He  saw  an  animal  that  had  been  wounded  by  a  shot,  immediately 
seek  for  safety  at  the  summit  of  an  immense  tree.  "  It  was  in  the  highest  degree 
interesting  tome  to  observe,"  says  our  authority,  "  how  excellently  he  selected  his 
place,  and  with  what  agility  he  stretched  out  his  unwounded  arm  on  all  sides, 
broke  off  strong  boughs  with  the  greatest  quickness  and  ease  and  placed  them 
one  over  another,  so  that  in  a  few  moments  he  had  formed  a  leafy  hut  that  quite 
concealed  him  from  our  view."  Mr.  Wallace  also  remarks  that  on  three  occasions 
he  saw  the  Orang,  when  irritated,  hurl  branches  of  trees  to  the  ground.  The 
Orang,  moreover,  is  feared  more  on  account  of  his  strength  than  his  size ;  and 
the  natives  told  Mr.  Wallace  that,  of  all  animals  of  the  forest,  only  the  Crocodile 
and  the  gigantic  serpent  (Python)  ventured  to  attack  the  Orang,  and  he  generally 
conquered  them. 

According  to  Grant  {Account  of  the  Structure  of  an  Orang-outang,  1828),  the 
Orang,  when  agreeably  excited,  is  even  capable  of  a  sort  of  laugh  ;  this  is  espec- 
ially worthy  of  notice,  because  laughter  has  mostly  been  designated  as  an  exclusive 
prerogative  of  humanity.  On  the  other  hand,  he  gives  distinct  signs  of  his  des- 
peration or  grief.  Grant  says  of  the  Orang  observed  by  him  :  "  He  emptied  his 
porringer  upon  the  ground,  whined  in  a  peculiar  manner  and  threw  himself  vehe- 
mently backwards  to  the  earth,  while  he  beat  his  chest  and  body  with  his  hands 
and  from  time  to  time  uttered  a  sort  of  groan."  Dr.  Yvan,  who  was  attached  to 
the  French  Expedition  to  China  in  the  year  1843,  tells  us  {Voyage  et  Recits, 
Bruxelles,  1853)  that  Tuan  (an  Orang  from  the  island  of  Borneo)  clothed  himself 
as  soon  as  ever  he  could  lay  hold  of  any  piece  of  stuff  for  the  purpose.*  One  day, 
his  master  having  taken  away  from  him  a  mango-fruit,  he  set  up  a  peevish  howl- 
ing, like  a  vexed  child.  As  this  was  not  successful,  he  threw  himself  flat  on  his 
belly,  beat  the  ground  with  his  fist,  screamed,  wept  and  howled  for  more  than 
half  an  hour.  When  at  last  the  fruit  was  given  back  to  him,  he  threw  it  at  his 
master's  head.  His  favorite  companion  was  a  Manilla  negrito  ;  he  was  also  fond 
of  playing  with  children.  "  One  day,  when  rolling  on  a  mat  with  a  girl  between 
four  and  five  years  old,  he  suddenly  ceased  playing  and  devoted  himself  to  the 

*The  wearing  of  clothes,  too,  has  been  indicated  as  if  it  were  an  exclusive 
prerogative  of  man,  although  so  many  savage  peoples  go  naked,  and,  as  the 
above  example  shows,  even  animals  exhibit  a  disposition  to  clothe  themselves. 


APPENDIX.  311 

closest  anatomical  investigation  of  the  child.  The  result  much  astonished  him  ; 
he  retired  to  a  corner  and  repeated  on  himself  the  same  investigations  that  he 
had  made  on  his  little  comrade." 

In  the  year  1836,  the  celebrated  Geoffroy-St.-Hilaire,  the  learned  naturalist, 
mingled  with  the  crowd  which  the  arrival  of  an  orang  drew  to  the  Paris  Zoologi- 
cal Garden,  in  order  to  hear  an  opinion  on  this  animal  from  the  mouths  of  people 
entirely  without  prejudice  and  unacquainted  with  the  rules  of  systematic  classifi- 
cation. The  result  surprised  the  philosopher  himself  ;  all  unanimously  declared 
that  the  animal  from  Sumatra  was  neither  an  ape  nor  a  man.  "  Neither  the  one 
nor  the  other,"  this  was  the  universal  impression  experienced. 

Dr.  Abel,  at  Java,  had  a  young  Orang-utan  who  used  to  prepare  himself  a 
proper  bed  every  evening,  with  boughs  and  leaves,  on  a  large  tamarind  tree  that 
stood  near  the  dwelling-house.  Afterwards,  on  the  voyage  home  with  Dr.  Abel, 
he  used  to  make  himself  a  bed  with  sail-cloths  and  rolled  himself  up  therein.  If 
canvas  was  not  to  be  had,  he  would  take  the  sailor's  shirts  and  clothes  which 
were  hung  up  to  dry. 

Vosmaer  had  an  Orang-utan  that  exhibited  the  same  cleverness  in  arranging 
his  bed. 

W  —  r  gives  a  similar  account  of  the  life  of  an  Orang  (Gartenlaube,  i860,  No. 
2).  When  the  ship,  on  board  of  which  the  ape  was,  came  into  colder  parts,  he 
never  came  on  deck  without  bringing  his  woollen  blanket  and  wrapping  himself 
in  it.  His  bed  he  accepted  gladly,  although  he  had  never  known  such  a  thing 
previously;  and  before  sleeping  in  it  twice  or  thrice,  he  made  it  each  time. 
Every  night  he  slept  exactly  twelve  hours.  In  the  kitchen,  in  order  to  play  the 
cook  a  trick,  he  used  to  turn  the  water-cocks.  Glass  vessels,  &c.,  in  which  he 
received  wine  or  other  drink,  he  never  broke,  but  put  them  carefully  aside  after 
using.  His  features  remained  always  alike,  just  as  those  of  savages  do.  He  died 
through  drinking  up  a  bottle  of  rum,  which  he  had  stolen,  uncorked  and  emptied. 
During  his  illness,  his  pulse  was  often  felt  ;  every  time  his  master  came  to  his 
bedside  he  stretched  out  his  paw  to  him. 

A  similar  account  is  given  of  a  Chimpanzee,  who  had  been  bled  during  an  ill- 
ness, and  every  time  he  felt  unwell  stretched  out  his  arm. 

Generally  the  large  apes  become  in  captivity  and  in  intercourse  with  man, 
quite  other  beings  than  in  the  wild  state.  They  become  accustomed  to  wear 
clothes,  drink  out  of  glasses,  use  a  spoon  and  a  fork,  uncork  bottles,  clean  boots 
and  brush  clothes,  and  are  even  said  to  be  employed  at  the  Cape  in  a  number  of 
useful  labors  of  the  house  and  field.  It  is  said  that  on  ship-board  they  help  to 
reef  and  furl  the  sails.  They  make  themselves  a  bed  with  a  raised  pillow,  show 
an  inclination  for  ladies,  light  a  fire  and  cook  food  thereon,  dust  furniture,  clean 
the  floor,  try  to  open  locks,  &c.  Buffon's  celebrated  Chimpanzee  extended  his 
hand  to  visitors,  went  arm  in  arm  with  them,  ate  at  table  sitting  and  with  a  nap- 
kin, used  fork  and  spoon,  wiped  his  mouth,  poured  out  a  glass,  fetched  coffee, 
put  suga-  in  it,  &c.  A.  Bastian  saw  on  an  English  man  of  war,  an  ape  sitting 
among  the  sailors  and  sewing  as  zealously  as  they.  Josse  tells  of  an  Orang  that 
was  on  good  terms  with  all  on  board,  except  the  butcher,  whom  he  only  ap- 
proached timidly,  cautiously  examining  his  hands.  Degrandpre  tells  of  a  Chim- 
panzee that  heated  the  oven,  let  no  coals  fall  and  summoned  the  baker  when  the 
oven  was  heated.     Le  Vaillant  had  an  ape,  whom  he  employed  for  seeking  roots 


312  APPENDIX. 

and  who  sought  to  devour  some  secretly,  but  quickly  concealed  them  whenever 
he  was  surprised. 

Werner  Munzluger,  the  celebrated  traveller,  informs  us  that  the  apes  who  live 
in  the  vicinity  of  villages  (for  example,  belonging  to  the  famous  Ape-State  near 
Karen)  are  familiar  with  man  and  never  do  any  thing  to  injure  him  ;  while  those 
of  the  lonely  parts,  who  seldom  get  a  sight  of  him,  regard  him  as  an  enemy,  and 
attack  a  solitary  individual  or  only  two  together,  but  do  not  venture  to  approach 
several. 

The  resemblance  of  the  large  apes  to  man  makes  the  hunting  of  them  very  ex- 
citing and  unpleasant ;  and  Du  Chaillu,  in  his  great  work,  has  communicated 
some  very  interesting  information  thereon.  Brehm  {Garteniaube,  1862,  No.  40) 
says  :  "  There  is  one  thing  very  characteristic  of  the  ape-hunters  :  even  the  most 
inured  hunter  cannot  get  rid  of  the  idea  that  by  killing  an  ape  he  has  committed 
a  murder.  The  demeanor  of  a  dying  ape  is  so  human,  that  a  cold  shiver  runs 
through  one's  frame  when  he  has  to  recognize  himself  as  his  murderer."  (It  may 
here  be  remarked  that  the  naturalist  Schimper,  who  resided  28  years  in  Abyssinia, 
assured  Brehm  that  the  accounts  of  assaults  by  male  apes  on  human  females  were 
no  fables.) 

One  day  Dr.  Boerlage,  in  Java,  shot  at  some  apes,  and  hit  a  mother.  She  fell, 
mortally  wounded,  from  the  tree,  tightly  clasping  a  young  one  in  her  arms,  and 
died  weeping.  The  scene  was  so  affecting  to  him  and  his  hunting  companions, 
that  they  firmly  resolved  never  again  to  shoot  an  ape.  The  sight  of  a  dying  Af- 
rican ape  made  a  like  impression  on  one  of  the  officers  of  the  British  exploring 
expedition  under  Captain  Owen.  On  the  river  Zaire  he  mortally  wounded  an 
ape,  and  was  so  affected  that  he  determined  never  to  seek  such  an  amusement 
again. 

With  regard  to  the  large  apes  and  their  intelligence,  compare  further  the  state- 
ments of  the  author  of  the  present  work,  following  Du  Chaillu,  on  the  gorilla, 
the  kulu-kamba,  and  the  nschiegombouve  or  nest-building  ape  in  Africa,  at  pp. 
297-307  of  his  collected  essays  Aus  Natur  und  Wissenschaft. 

(31)  There  are  men  and  races  of  men,  who  have  scarcely  more  understanding 
than  certain  animals,  and  have  as  little  idea  of  religion  or  a  moral  world.  The 
lowest  among  the  Oceanians  and  Africans  (as  the  aboriginal  Australians,  the 
South-Sea  negroes,  Bushmen,  Central-Africans,  &c.,  &c.),  are  entirely  destitute 
of  general  ideas  or  abstract  notions.  Past  and  future  concern  them  not ;  they 
live  only  in  the  present.  The  Australian  has  no  words  to  express  the  ideas  of 
God,  religion,  righteousness,  sin.  Sec.  ;  he  knows  almost  no  other  sensation  than 
that  of  the  need  of  food,  which  he  endeavors  in  every  way  to  satisfy,  and  makes 
known  to  the  traveller  by  grimaces.  "  In  them  the  capability  of  considering  and 
inferring,"  says  Hale  (^Natives  of  Australia,  &c.,  1846),  "appears  to  be  very  im- 
perfectly developed.  The  reasons  which  the  colonists  use  in  order  to  convince 
or  persuade  them  are  mostly  such  as  are  employed  with  children  and  half-imbe- 
ciles." 

An  interesting  letter  (an  abstract  of  which  is  given  in  No.  15  of  the  Auslana 
for  1861)  from  a  Frankfort  lady,  wife  of  Dr.  Bingmann,  who,  with  her  husband, 
emigrated  to  Australia,  depicts  the  natives  as  a  race  below  all  others  in  the  capa- 
bility of  improvement.     They  live  quite  naked,  in  huts  of  bark,  in  which  they 


APPENDIX.  313 

sleep  with  their  dogs.  They  indolently  endure  hunger,  thirst,  cold  and  wet,  eat 
anything,  insects,  serpents,  worms,  roots,  berries,  &c.,  have  no  fixed  dwelling- 
place,  no  tribal  property  and  are  quite  incapable  of  civilization.  The  mission- 
aries have  long  given  up  every  attempt  to  civilize  them  ;  for  if  one  baptizes  them, 
it  has  no  more  effect  than  the  baptism  of  a  dog  or  a  horse  ;  they  understand  noth- 
ing of  the  signification  of  the  act.  Each  district  has  a  different  dialect  ;  so  that 
at  every  50  or  60  miles  distance  they  cannot  understand  each  other.  Marriages 
are  very  loose  ;  infanticide  is  universal  ;  the  aged  are  put  to  death.  At  ten  or 
twelve  years  of  age  they  are  already  full-grown  ;  and  they  live,  on  the  average, 
not  more  than  36  years.  Advanced  age  is  very  rare.  Mentally,  Madame  Bing- 
man  says,  they  are  mere  children  ;  they  find  amusement  only  in  childish  tricks 
and  trifles.  They  live  only  in  the  present  and  think  neither  of  the  past  nor  the 
future.  They  cannot  be  taught  any  principles  ;  they  are  dead  to  all  morality. 
They  know  no  sentiment,  no  spiritual  life,  no  love,  no  gratitude,  but  only  un- 
bridled passion  and  the  sense  of  their  nothingness  against  the  white  races.  Their 
complete  extinction  is  now  only  a  question  of  time.  The  men  of  Australia  ap- 
pear, like  the  animals  and  plants  of  that  country,  to  have  remained  at  an  earlier, 
imperfect  stage,  through  being  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world. 

In  1864,  Prof.  Schaaffhausen  laid  before  the  Niederrheinische  Gesellscliaft  fiir 
Natii?--  unci  HeilkuTide  some  photographs  of  the  natives  (soon  to  become  ex- 
tinct) of  Van  Diemen's  Land,  which  he  had  received  from  the  Rev.  R.  R.  Nixon, 
the  English  Bishop  in  Tasmania,  and  remarked  that  they  showed  such  a  sur- 
prising resemblance  to  the  apes  as  is  presented  by  scarcely  any  other  race  of  men. 
Nixon  had  been  obliged  to  desist  from  all  attempts  at  conversion,  because  the 
poverty  of  their  language  and  conceptions  rendered  every  higher  religious  idea 
impossible  to  them. 

The  aborigines  of  New  Caledonia,  akin  to  the  Fiji-Islanders  and  belonging  to 
the  Papuan  group,  have,  according  to  the  account  of  Von  Rochas,  no  shame,  go 
quite  naked,  and  indulge  in  a  number  of  sexual  excesses  of  the  basest  kind.  They 
have  intelligence,  as  the  beasts,  but  no  moral  emotions,  are  faithless  in  the  highest 
degree,  perjured,  crafty,  will  strike  any  one  down  from  behind,  are  cannibals, 
eating  not  merely  their  enemies,  but  even  their  own  relatives,  can  only  with  great 
difficulty  count  the  lowest  numbers,  use  strong  abortives,  and  bury  the  aged 
alive.     If  a  chief  is  hungry,  he  straightway  knocks  down  one  of  his  subjects.— 

Turning  from  Australia  to  Africa,  we  encounter  among  the  lowest  human 
races  there  the  same  brutal  degradation  and  irrationality.  "It  is  sufficient,'' 
says  Eichthal  (Brie/e  iiber  die  Aegerrasse,  1839),  "  to  have  seen  black  men  and  to 
have  lived  some  time  among  them,  in  order  to  be  convinced  that  here  is  presented 
a  different  hnman  nature  from  that  of  white  men."  The  experienced  English 
traveller  Burton  depicts  the  negro  of  East  Africa  as  a  being  without  any  moral 
idea,  or  any  thought  reaching  beyond  the  narrowest  circle  of  things  perceptible 
by  the  senses.  He  has  or  knows  no  conscience,  no  logic,  no  history,  no  poesy, 
no  belief  except  the  grossest  superstition,  no  domestic  life,  no  attachment  to  kin- 
dred, no  inclination  to  labor,  no  gratitude,  no  compassion,  no  care  for  the  future, 
&c.  Mentally  he  is  totally  barren,  and,  though  he  can  probably  observe,  he  can 
deduce  nothing  from  what  he  has  observed.  Hence  he  has  remained  at  the  first 
beginnings  of  civilization,  and  for  thousands  of  years  has  made  no  progress,  al- 
though he  has  had  sufficient  contact  with  cultivated  peoples.     He  lies,  even  with- 


314  APPENDIX. 

out  aim  or  profit,  and  is  in  the  highest  degree  obstinate  and  self-willed,  just  as 
some  animals  are  accustomed  to  be.  His  /etichism  is  only  a  rude,  sensual  super- 
stition, the  expression  of  abject  terror.  If  he  has  killed  any  one,  his  only  concern 
is  lest  the  ghost  of  the  murdered  man  should  molest  him.  He  combines  all  the 
incapacity  and  credulity  of  childhood  with  the  obstinacy  and  stupidity  of  age. 

Similar  was  the  experience  of  the  celebrated  traveller  Sir  S.  W.  Baker  in  the 
region  of  the  sources  of  the  Nile  (Exploration  of  the  Nile-Sources,  1866).  The 
Kytsch  negroes,  on  the  White  Nile,  he  calls  mere  apes,  and  says  that  for  their 
nourishment  they  trust  solely  to  what  nature  supplies.  They  lie  for  hours  on 
the  ground,  waiting  till  they  can  seize  a  field-mouse.  They  go  perfectly  naked 
and  smear  their  body  with  ashes.  "  Savages  so  dreadfully  degraded,"  says  Baker, 
"  I  never  saw  before."  The  mission  to  the  negroes  of  Sudan  is  perfectly  useless. 
Moorlang,  the  missionary,  says  of  them  that  they  are  inferior  to  cattle  and  inac- 
cessible to  all  moral  feeling.  Baker  made  the  same  observation  among  the  Latuka 
negroes,  a  tribe  in  the  mterior  of  Africa.  They  know  neither  gratitude,  nor  sym- 
pathy, nor  self-denial  ;  they  have  no  idea  of  duty  or  religion,  know  nothing  that 
is  good,  honorable,  or  honest,  but  only  lust,  selfishness,  cruelty,  and  above  all. 
violence.  They  are  thievish,  lazy,  envious,  and  ever  ready  to  plunder  their 
weaker  fellows  and  to  sell  them  into  slavery. 

The  same  holds  good  of  innumerable  other  African  tribes,  as  of  the  Mpongwes 
in  Central  Africa  (of  whom  the  American  missionary  John  Leighton,  who  Uved 
four  years  among  them,  reports  that  they  possess  neither  religion,  nor  priests,  nor 
sacrifice,  nor  religious  assemblies),  of  the  Bechuanas  (of  whom  Livingstone, 
Andersson  and  others  have  given  accounts),  of  the  Kaffirs,  the  Hottentots,  the 
Bushmen  (which  latter  are  accustomed  to  be  reckoned  among  the  most  degraded 
of  the  races  of  men  and  live  on  the  steppes  of  Southern  Africa,  in  holes  in  the 
earth  dug  out  with  their  hands,  feeding  on  insects,  worms  and  small  birds,  which 
they  swallow  unplucked),  &c.  All  that  these  tribes  know,  or  think  they  know  of 
God,  has  first  been  brought  to  them  by  the  missionaries. 

Moreover,  all  these  tribes  are  exceeded  in  brutal  ferocity  by  the  Dokos,  who  in- 
habit the  south  of  Shoa,  an  unexplored  region  of  Abyssinia,  and  of  whom  the 
missionary  Dr.  L.  Krapf,  in  an  English  work  on  his  eighteen  years'  stay  and  his 
travels  in  East  Africa,  gives  very  copious  information  from  the  statements  of  a 
slave  of  Ennrea.  The  Dokos  are  human  pigmies,  growing  not  higher  than  4 
feet,  thfir  complexion  dark  olive.  They  wander  in  the  woods  and  live  in  an 
utterly  brutish  manner,  without  habitations,  or  temples,  or  holy  trees,  and  so 
forth.  They  go  quite  naked,  feed  on  roots,  fruits,  mice,  serpents,  ants  and  honey, 
and  clamber  about  the  trees  like  monkeys.  They  have  no  chief,  no  law,  no 
weapons,  no  wedlock,  no  family,  and  indulge  in  promiscuous  intercourse  like  the 
beasts,  whereby  they  increase  very  fast.  Mothers  suckle  their  children  only  a 
short  time  and  then  abandon  them.  They  hunt  not,  dig  not,  sow  not,  and  are 
not  even  acquainted  with  the  use  0/  fire.  Yet  they  decorate  themselves  with 
necklaces  of  snake's  bones.  They  have  thick  lips,  a  flat  nose,  little  eyes,  long 
hair  and  long  nails  on  the  fingers  and  toes,  with  which  they  root  in  the  earth. 
They  are  taken  by  stronger  races  and  used  as  slaves.  Du  Chaillu,  in  his  travels 
in  Equatorial  Africa  in  1863-64,  found  a  race  of  men  called  the  Obongo  or  dwarfs. 
Their  stature  amounts  to  from  4  to  5  feet ;  their  skin  is  dirty  yellow,  they  have  a 
narrow  forehead,   but  prominent  cheek-bones,   and  an   untamably  fierce  look. 


APPENDIX.  315 

Their  legs  are  short,  their  chest  and  thighs  covered  with  woolly  hair.  They  live 
by  hunting,  on  roots  and  wild  fruits,  bury  their  dead  in  hollow  trees,  speak  a 
peculiar  language,  and  live  in  huts  made  of  leaves.  (See  Ausland,  1867, 
No.  14.) 

In  Karl  von  Hugel's  work,  Der  stille  Ocean  und  die  spanischen  Besitzungen 
im  ost-indischen  Archipel  (Vienna.,  i860,  printed  as  a  manuscript),  there  is  a  very 
similar  communication  on  the  aborigines  of  the  Philippine  Islands.  This  dis- 
tinguished naturalist  says  (p.  358)  : — "The  aborigines  of  the  Philippine  Islands, 
as  previously  mentioned,  are  more  than  probably  that  black  race  of  men  whom 
the  Spaniards  named,  on  account  of  their  small  negro  form,  negorillos  de  monies, 
or  dwarf  negroes  of  the  mountains.  I  saw  several  of  them  in  Manilla,  who  had 
been  captured  in  childhood  and  now  appeared  contented  in  their  condition,  per- 
haps///4^  a  parrot,  which  becomes  tame  if  brought  up  from  the  nest,  and  then  is 
contented  with  its  daily  food.  To  the  captured  adult,  on  the  contrary,  as  to  all 
these  black  aborigines,  unrestrained  freedom  is  dearer  than  a  life  quiet  and  free 
from  care ;  and  if  compelled  to  remain,  although  abundantly  supplied  with  every 
necessary,  it  is  said  they  die  of  home-sickness.  This  negro  lives  like  a  wild  ani- 
mal in  the  mountains  and  woods  ;  he  is  of  an  ungainly  figure,  dwarfish  size,  with 
emaciated  arms  and  legs,  a  lean  body  covered  with  black  and  red  hairs  ;  the  hair 
of  his  head  black  and  woolly.  The  wild  negrillo  is  not  a  sociable  being ;  he  al- 
ways lives  by  himself  alone  or  with  his  wife  if  he  can  procure  one.  This  pecu- 
liarity has  added  to  the  difficulty  of  civilizing  them  or  making  of  them  domestic 
animals.  Without  any  fixed  dwelling,  they  traverse  mountains  and  woods  and 
sleep  under  trees,  which  is  rendered  possible  by  the  absence  of  voracious  beasts. 
They  live  by  fishing  and  hunting,  and  can  use  their  arrows  very  dexterously. 
These  negrillos  dwell  only  on  the  mountains  of  St.  Matteo  and  Maribeles  and  in 
the  province  of  Ilocos  Norte.  In  the  Island  of  Negros,  which  is  so  named  from 
them,  they  are  numerous.  That  they  have  a  peculiar  and  probably  very  poor 
language  is  a  matter  of  course  ;  the  nature  of  this,  and  whether,  as  is  probable, 
the  negrillos  in  different  provinces  speak  different  dialects,  I  could  not  ascertain  ; 
no  one  in  Manilla  was  in  a  position  to  inform  me  ;  the  negrillos  are  there  gener- 
ally regarded  and  treated  as  nothing  better  than  a  sort  of  apes.''''  The  toes  of 
these  savages,  who  dwell  either  in  holes  of  the  earth  or  in  trees,  are  very  movable 
and  more  widely  separated  than  ours  ;  the  great  toe  especially  is  distant  from  the 
rest.  With  them,  as  with  fingers,  they  hold  themselves  fast  to  boughs  of  trees 
and  to  ropes. 

The  other  islands  of  the  great  East-Indian  archipelago  also  harbor  numerous 
similar  tribes  of  men,  some  of  which  if  possible  still  nearer  approach  mere  animal 
nature.  In  the  interior  of  the  large  island  Borneo,  savages  4  feet  high,  of  dark 
complexion,  with  wrinkled  skin  covered  with  hair,  have  been  found,  who  know 
neither  dwelling-place  nor  family,  who  sleep  in  caves,  or  on  trees,  live  on  vermin 
and  eat  one  another.  They  can  neither  be  tamed  nor  be  employed  for  any  work- 
They  have  a  human  countenance  ;  but  their  speech  resembles  rather  a  brutal 
gabble  than  a  human  mode  of  expression.  On  the  island  of  Sumatra,  Mr.  Gibson, 
an  American,  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  a  so-called  Orang-Kabu,  or  aborigine. 
He  went  quite  naked  ;  and  his  body  was  covered  all  over  with  soft  dark  hair.  It 
is  said  that  the  Orang-Kabu  has  no  language  of  his  own,  but  only  learns  with 
great  labor  to  pronounce  a  few  Malay  words.     The  same  traveller  mentions  an- 


3l6  APPENDIX. 

other  tribe,  the  Orang-Gugur,  whose  body  likewise  exhibits  a  very  great  resem- 
blance  to  an  ape's. 

De  la  Gironniere  tells  of  the  Ajetas,  who  inhabit  the  interior  of  Luzon  (one  of 
the  Philippine  Islands)  : — "The  people  appeared  to  me  more  like  a  great  family 
of  apes  than  human  beings.  The  sound  they  made  was  like  the  short  shriek  of 
those  animals  ;  and  their  movements  were  the  same.  The  difference  consisted 
solely  in  knowing  the  use  of  the  bow  and  the  spear  and  how  to  make  a  fire."  (W. 
Earl,  Native  Races  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  London,  1853.) — 

If  we  turn  from  the  Indian  islands  to  the  conti?ient  of  Asia,  we  meet  here  also, 
in  the  inaccessible  wilds  of  India,  with  human  beings  (probably  the  remains  of 
the  ancient  primitive  population),  who  at  first  sight  leave  the  observer  in  doubt 
whether  he  has  before  him  men  or  anthropoid  apes.  One  day,  in  the  solitudes  of 
the  vast  jungles,  the  Old  Shikari  (The  Hunting-grounds  of  the  Old  World,  by 
the  Old  Shekarry,  quoted  in  the  Ausland,  i860.  No.  39),  met  with  wild  men  who 
lived  on  trees.  There  were  a  man,  a  woman  and  a  child,  dark  olive-colored,  the 
largest  of  them  not  higher  than  4  feet.  They  had  no  clothing ;  their  eyes  were 
small  and  piercing  and  their  face  wrinkled  ;  the  nose  was  flat,  the  mouth  wide, 
the  teeth  large  and  yellow,  the  arms  long  and  shrivelled,  the  nails  like  claws. 
The  discoverer  took  them  at  first  to  be  in  fact  apes,  and  had  to  look  at  them  some 
time  in  order  to  become  convinced  that  they  were  human.  With  this  agrees  the 
information  given  by  Piddington,  an  English  colonist,  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  vol.  XXIV.,  p.  207  (quoted  in  the  Ausland,  1855,  No. 
50),  on  the  Indian  "  ape  men,"  as  well  as  the  account  given  by  von  Hugel 
(Amtlicher  Bericht  der  Versamtnlung  deutscher  Naturforscher  und  Aerzte  in 
Prag,  1837,  p.  44),  of  the  inhabitants  of  some  of  the  hill-parts  of  India,  whom  he 
classes  with  the  New-Hollanders,  because  they  had  not  yet  arrived  at  forming  a 
horde,  and  scarcely  a  family  was  found  united.  Man  and  woman  live  isolated  ; 
and  when  by  chance  any  one  meets  with  them  they  take  refuge  like  monkeys  on 
the  trees.  Piddington  describes  the  one  seen  by  him  as  "  small,  flat-nosed,  with 
gaping  arched  wrinkles  round  the  mouth  and  on  the  cheeks,  with  very  long  arms, 
and  with  reddish  hair  on  the  coarse  black  skin.  "  Had  he  been  seen,"  he  adds, 
"crouching  in  a  dark  corner  or  on  a  tree,  he  would  have  been  taken  for  a  large 
orang-utan." 

One  of  the  newest  reports  on  wild  tribes  of  men  in  India  was  read  before  the 
London  Anthropological  Society,  in  1S65,  by  Dr.  Shortt  Zillah,  a  physician  in 
Chingleput.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  them  are  the  so-called  Leaf-wearers, 
who  inhabit  some  districts  of  Orissa.  They  do  not  grow  higher  than  4  or  5  feet ; 
and  the  women  clothe  themselves  only  with  boughs,  which  they  fasten  round  the 
waist  with  strings.  They  are  regarded  as  the  dregs  of  the  province,  of  which 
they  inhabit  the  remotest  and  wildest  parts.  They  live  partly  on  boiled  rice, 
partly  on  wild  fruits,  roots,  &c.,  have  no  priests,  no  education,  no  worship,  &c., 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  they  have  some  superstitious  customs.  Their  only  im- 
plements are  the  bow  and  arrow  and  an  axe  for  felling  timber. 

The  American  continent  furnishes  an  equal  abundance  of  information  relative 
to  the  wild  or  primitive  condition  of  our  race.  The  Indians  of  Ucayale,  writes 
Castelnau,  {Travels  in  Peru),  appear  scarcely  to  belong  to  our  human  kind. 
Their  brown  color,  their  big,  almost  spherical  belly,  their  meagre  arms  and  legs 
and  the  strange  shape  of  their  (artificially  deformed)  head  make  them  app>ear  like 


APPENDIX.  3^7 

beings  of  quite  another  sort.  The  Cahibes,  in  South  America,  just  like  the  al- 
ready described  Australian  blacks  (who,  according  to  the  experienced  traveller 
Moritz  Wagner,  without  huts,  traffic,  or  clothes,  live  on  roots,  fruits,  snails,  and, 
in  case  of  need,  on  their  own  children,  and,  on  account  of  their  unbounded  stu- 
pidity, cannot  even  be  used  as  slaves),  are  obstinate  cannibals,  who  even  devour 
their  own  children  and  the  aged.  The  Digger  or  Pau-Eutaw-Indians  are  depicted, 
by  the  author  of  ".4  Ride  across  the  great  American  Desert  and  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  as  "  the  most  degraded  and  wretched  beings  that  inhabit  the  North- 
American  continent ;  their  food  is  horrible  ;  the  Chinese  roasted  dogs  and  rats 
are  epicurean  dishes  in  comparison.  Some  of  tliem  brought  with  them  lizards  to 
the  camp  and  ate  them  raw  with  no  other  prep  ration  than  pulling  out  the  tails. 
Their  hair  is  long  and  almost  as  coarse  as  a  mu'e's  mane.  Their  face  is  void  of 
all  mental  expression ;  and,  excepting  the  eye,  which  is  remarkably  fierce,  the 
features  are  nowise  noteworthy.  The  traveller  can  only  discover  a  striking  re- 
semblance between  them  and  wild  beasts,  both  as  regards  their  manners  and  their 
exterior.  I  have  often  observed  how  in  walking  they  turn  the  head  quickly  from 
left  to  right,  exactly  as  the  prairie-wolf  does.  In  their  voracity  they  have  more 
resemblance  to  an  anaconda  than  a  human  being.  I  have  been  told,  by  those  in- 
timately acquainted  with  their  manners,  that  five  or  six  of  these  Indians  will  seat 
themselves  round  a  dead  horse  and  eat  till  nothing  is  left  but  the  bones. 

"We  gave  them  the  remnant  of  our  dried  beef,  which  was  putrid  and  mouldy. 
This  they  ate  greedily  ;  and  when  they  saw  that  nothing  more  was  to  be  had, 
they  expressed  their  satisfaction  by  rubbing  their  bellies  and  grunting  in  a  way 
that  would  have  well  suited  a  herd  of  swine." 

"The  Indians,"  says  the  author  of  the  account  of  a  journey  from  New-York  to 
California,  in  Diezmann's  ^«j  der  Fretnde,  "are  children.  Their  arts,  wars, 
transactions,  &c.,  belong  to  the  lowest  condition  of  human  society.  A  company 
of  boys  from  ten  to  fifteen  years  old  is  quite  as  well  able  to  govern  itself  as  an 
Indian  tribe  ;  and  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  America  will  within  fifty  years  have 
vanished  from  the  soil  of  their  fathers.  .  .  .  The  Indian  depicted  by  Cooper 
and  Longfellow  is  only  visible  to  the  eye  of  the  poet  ;  to  the  prosaic  observer  the 
Indian  appears  a  creature  which  has  altogether  failed  to  reach  the  dignity  of 
human  nature,  a  slave  of  appetite  and  sloth,"  &c. 

The  Brazilian  man  of  the  woods,  or  Botokudo,  is  according  to  Dr.  Robert  Ave- 
Lallemant  (Journey  through  North  Brazil,  1859),  quite  naked  and  without  the 
slightest  sentiment  of  modesty.  He  has  thin  thighs  and  calves,  long,  slender 
hands,  a  large  trunk,  big  belly  and  a  depressed,  narrow  and  bony  forehead.  He 
is  not  interested  by  any  thing  uncommon  ;  his  eyes  are  without  lustre  and  soul; 
his  look  is  staring,  dull  and  without  intelligence.  In  the  presence  of  an  European 
he  is  shy,  embarrassed,  and  slips  aside.  He  wears  wooden  plugs  in  his  lips  and 
ear-lobes,  is  considerably  smaller  than  the  European,  and  appears,  on  close  inter- 
course, like  a  good-natured  ape.  When  Lallemant  endeavored  to  make  him 
understand  anything  by  signs,  he  imitated  every  action,  just  as  apes  do.  "I  was 
convinced,"  he  says,  "with  deep  sadness,  that  they  were  two-handed  apes." 
They  are  also  cannibals  and  quite  incapable  of  seeing  the  abominableness  of  the 
practice.  Nothing  excites  their  curiosity  or  attention.  They  speak  little  to  one 
another,  but  rather  mutually  grunt  and  snuffle.  They  are  quite  destitute  of  moral 
notions.     To  them  a  man  is  either  a  friend  and  then  good,  or  an  enemy  and  then 


-18  appp:ndix. 

bad.  In  eating  they  make  a  smacking  noise,  like  swine. —  In  the  Revue  des  deux 
Mondes,  1S63,  Adolphe  d'Assier  says  of  the  Brazilian  Botokudo  that  he  is  en- 
tirely destitute  of  moral  ideas.  Immorality  is  normal,  morality  sporadic  or  ex- 
ceptional ;  an  honest  man  is  called  "  not  a  thief,"  —  truth,  "  not  a  lie." 

On  the  19th  September,  1S68,  at  the  fourth  session  of  the  International  Con- 
gress for  Archaeology  and  Hibtory  in  Bonn  (Section  for  Primeval  History),  Otto 
Schmitz  gave  a  very  full  report  on  the  wild  Apaches  Indians,  whose  country  lies 
between  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte  and  the  Rio  Colorado,  among  whom  he  had 
been  compelled  to  live  several  months,  and  who  exhibit  the  utmost  degree  of  brutal 
barbarism.  They  go  quite  naked,  their  leather-like  skin  seeming  to  compensate 
for  the  want  of  clothing  ;  sleep  in  hollows  in  the  ground,  feed  on  fruits,  berries, 
vermin  and  stolen  horses  or  asses,  have  no  other  implements  than  bow  and  spear, 
and  go  singly  or  in  small  troops  without  a  chief  ;  only  for  marauding  expeditions 
on  a  larger  scale  than  usual  do  they  unite  under  chieftains.  They  know  no  mar- 
riage, but  only  a  longer  or  shorter  cohabitation  of  the  sexes,  the  children  being 
quickly  lost  in  the  horde,  have  no  notion  of  their  age  or  of  counting  years,  they 
are  unacquainted  with  physicians,  do  not  wash  their  children,  but  powder  them 
with  sand,  leave  their  sick  and  dead  on  the  road,  and  have  scarcely  any  idea  of 
wailing  for  the  dead.  "  They  have  no  idea  that  the  dead  live  on,  that  there  may 
be  something  better  elsewhere  than  here,  or  a  conception  of  the  great  Spirit,  such 
as  is  found  among  many  Indians.  The  only  festival  they  observe  is  that  of  the 
full  moon."  Beasts  are  not  slaughtered,  but  torn  asunder.  In  a  marauding  ex- 
pedition the  weak  or  the  crippled  are  left  behind  to  starve,  or  are  slain.  The 
Apache  speaks  little,  and  rather  in  gestures  than  in  sounds,  has  no  notion  of 
greeting,  either  at  meeting  or  parting,  speaks  more  in  broken  sentences  than  in 
coherent  words ;  guttural  sounds  so  predominate  that  loud  discourse  is  almost 
impossible.  The  important  auxiliary  verb  "  to  be"  does  not  exist.  Their  nu- 
meral system  is  decimal,  like  that  of  most  savage  peoples. 

The  inhabitants  of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  at  the  southern  extremity  of  America,  are, 
according  to  the  Duke  of  Argyll  {Primeval  Man,  i86g,  p.  167),  perhaps  inferior 
to  all  other  races  of  men.  They  are  habitual  cannibals  ;  they  will  sooner  kill  and 
eat  their  old  women  than  their  dogs ;  go  perfectly  naked,  have  an  ugly  counte- 
nance bedaubed  with  paint,  a  dirty,  greasy  skin,  tangled  hair,  unharmonious 
voices  and  violent  manners.  "  When  we  see  such  men,"  says  Darwin  {Voyage  of 
the  Beagle),  "we  can  hardly  persuade  ourselves  that  they  are  creatures  like  our- 
selves and  inhabitants  of  the  same  world." — 

If  we  repair  from  the  extreme  south  to  the  extreme  north  of  our  globe,  we  find 
also  here  a  similar  spectacle  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  the  Es- 
kimos. "The  Eskimo,"  says  John  Ross  (Narrative  of  a  Second  Voyage,  &c., 
1835,  p.  448),  "  is  a  beast  of  prey,  without  any  other  pleasure  than  that  of  eating; 
without  any  principle  or  rational  emotion,  he  devours  as  long  as  he  can,  and  as 
much  as  he  can  get,  like  the  vulture  or  the  tiger.  .  .  .  He  eats  only  to  sleep, 
and  sleeps  only  as  soon  as  possible  to  eat  again."  As  to  their  mental  capabilities, 
they  have,  according  to  Whitebourne,  no  knowledge  of  God,  and  live  without 
any  form  of  civil  government.  On  this  point  John  Ross  says  :  "  I  could  not  be 
clear  whether  they  understood  any  thing  of  what  I  endeavored  to  make  intelli- 
gible to  them  by  explaining  the  simplest  things  in  the  simplest  manner.  Should 
I  have  accomplished  more,  if  I  had  understood  their  lanjiuage  better  ?     I  have 


APPENDIX.  319 

very  much  reason  to  doubt  it.  That  they  must  have  had  a  certain  sort  of  moral 
law  written  on  the  heart  I  could  not  doubt,  for  their  behavior  proved  it ;  but  be- 
yond this  all  my  searches  were  vain,  and  no  effort  led  to  anything  worth  mention. 
Relative  to  their  opinions  on  the  essentials  of  that  from  which  the  presence  of  a 
sort  of  religion  might  have  been  concluded,  I  was  at  last  compelled  to  give  up 
the  attempt  in  despair."     (Loc.  cit.,  p.  54S). 

This  hasty  sketch  of  the  natural  and  moral  history  of  savage  peoples  may  suf- 
fice in  this  place,  although  by  similar  or  analogous  delineations  by  transatlantic 
travellers  from  the  most  diverse  regions  of  the  inhabited  earth  it  might  have  been 
much  further  extended.  The  rude  savage  or  primitive  man  is,  even  as  to  his 
whole  essence,  so  very  different  from  the  civilized  and  cultivated  man,  who  is  ac- 
customed to  fixed  civil  and  social  arrangements  and  educated  by  the  culture  of 
thousands  of  years,  that  it  is  impossible  to  place  the  two  on  one  level  and  from 
them,  after  the  manner  of  the  idealistic  philosophers,  construct  an  ideal  universal 
"  essence  of  man."  It  is  only  education,  improvement,  experience,  the  inherit- 
ance of  acquired  capabilities  and  the  innumerable  aids  and  incitements  of  culture 
that  make  the  civilized  man  what  he  is  now  and  what  he  must  be,  and  probably 
will  in  process  of  time  continually  still  more  transform  him  and  remove  him  still 
further  from  his  original  brutish  condition.  It  is  true  that  some  have  endeavored 
to  diminish  the  force  of  all  those  observations  of  savage  peoples,  which  we  have 
urged,  by  laboring  to  represent  them  as  degenerate^  fallen  from  a  previous  better 
condition  of  culture,  and  hence  abnormally  departing  from  the  idea  of  humanity. 
But,  apart  from  isolated  cases  with  which  that  opinion  agrees,  there  are  no  facts 
to  confirm  such  a  view,  or  even  to  make  it  appear  probable.  It  is  a  universal  law 
of  nature  that  degeneration  leads  to  premature  extinction  ;  but  some  of  these 
tribes  have  already  existed  from  time  immemorial,  and  many  of  them  enjoy  a 
fecundity  too  great  to  be  reconcilable  with  the  fact  of  degeneration. 

"  The  immediate  impression,"  says  Prof.  Schaaff hausen  (Ueber  den  Zustand 
der  wildeti  Volker,  p.  164),  "made  by  all  the  phenomena  of  savage  peoples, 
their  intimate  connection  with  the  nature  of  the  country  they  inhabit,  the  absence 
of  any  reminiscence  of  any  better  condition,  the  bodily  health  and  physical 
strength  in  which,  when  out  of  contact  with  the  influences  of  civilization,  they 
are  preserved,  the  peculiarities  of  their  organization  (which  betray  a  lower  stage 
of  development),  finally  the  absence  of  such  signs  of  decay  as  we  perceive  in  cer- 
tain cases  —  all  this  leads  us  to  think  that  most  of  the  savage  tribes  have  never 
been  in  possession  of  a  higher  culture.  This  view  is  also  favored  by  the  circum- 
stance that  many  of  the  most  polished  nations  of  the  present  day  were  in  ancient 
times  at  a  like  stage  of  barbarism." 

(32)  Besides  those  contained  in  Appendix  31,  numerous  examples  of  savage  na- 
tions who  are  destitute  of  this  belief  and  even  have  no  words  in  their  languages 
to  express  the  ideas  Coo',  religion,  justice,  sin,  &c.,  may  be  gleaned  from  the 
Author's  Kraft  und  Stoff,  ii  edition,  p.  201  et  seqq.  "  Three  large  sections 
of  the  earth's  surface,"  says  G.  Pouchet,  "  which  are  still  inhabited  by  savages, 
appear  to  have  remained  till  now  exempt  from  religious  notions :  they  are  the 
interior  of  Africa,  Australia,  and  the  polar  regions  —  consequently  the  three  most 
difficult  to  explore,  and  hence  the  least  known  portions  of  the  world.  Latham 
says  that  the  Australians  have  not  yet  gone  so  far  as  to  form  by  themselves  even 


320  APPENDIX. 

the  rudest  elements  of  a  religion,  and  that  their  minds  seem  to  be  actually  too 
inert  for  superstition.  A  missionary  says  of  them  :  "What  can  be  undertaken 
with  a  people  whose  language  knows  no  expressions  for '  righteousness,' '  sin,'  and 
the  like,  and  to  whose  minds  the  ideas  which  those  words  are  intended  to  express 
are  utterly  unexplainable  ?  "  Of  the  Latukas  (region  of  the  Nile  sources)  Sir  S.  W, 
Baker  states  (The  Albert  Nyanza,  1867),  that  the  idea  of  a  Deity  does  not  exist 
among  them,  and  they  have  no  sort  of  religion,  not  even  the  rudest  fetish-worship. 

The  belief  in  a  God  is  not  any  thing  original  or  innate,  but  something  made  or 
grown,  and  first  results  from  a  certain  amount  of  reflection  by  the  uneducated 
human  mind  on  the  surrounding  natural  phenomena,  which,  from  defective 
knowledge  of  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  their  intimate  connection,  he  cannot  ex- 
plain in  a  natural  way,  and  hence  refers  them  to  an  invisible,  mysterious  cause; 
while  the  wholly  uncultivated  savage  does  not  feel  the  need  of  even  such  a  super- 
ficial method  of  explanation.  Science  is  a  continued  struggle  with  this  notion ; 
and  with  every  step  she  makes  forwards  she  drives  back  the  belief  in  supernatural 
forces,  or  the  need  of  such  a  belief,  into  more  remote  and  untenable  positions. 
Hence  every  science,  and  especially  every  philosophy,  that  seeks  reality  instead 
of  appearance,  truth  instead  of  pretence,  must  necessarily  be  atheistic  ;  otherwise 
it  blocks  up  against  itself  the  path  to  its  end — the  truth.  As  soon,  then,  as  in  a 
philosophic  book  the  word  "  God  "  occurs,  except  in  criticism  or  reference,  one 
may  confidently  lay  it  aside ;  in  it  will  be  found  nothing  capable  of  promoting 
the  real  progress  of  knowledge.  In  properly  scientific  works  the  word  will  be 
seldom  met  with  ;  for  in  scientific  matters  the  word  "  God  "  is  only  another  ex- 
pression for  our  ignorance ;  in  like  manner  as  on  more  special  occasions  the 
words  "vital  force,"  "  instinct,"  "soul,"  &c. 

That,  moreover,  for  religion  itself  the  idea  of  a  Deity  is  not  indispensable,  is 
proved  by  the  well-known  and  oft-cited  example  of  the  most  wide-spread  religious 
system  in  the  world,  Buddhism.  Barthelemy  St.-Hilaire,  the  author  of  the  ex- 
cellent work  Buddha  and  his  Religion,  (1862),  says  : — "There  is  not  found  even 
the  least  trace  of  the  belief  in  a  Deity  in  the  whole  of  Buddhism  ;  and  the  asser- 
tion that  it  assumes  the  absorption  of  the  human  soul  in  the  divine  or  the  soul  of 
the  universe  is  an  altogether  arbitrary  supposition,  which  in  Buddha's  notion  is 
not  even  possible.  In  order  to  believe  that  man  can  lose  himself  by  union  with 
God,  one  must  first  believe  in  God  himself.  But  one  can  scarcely  even  assert  that 
Buddha  did  not  believe  in  him.  He  ignores  God  so  completely  that  he  does  not 
once  endeavor  to  deny  him.  He  neither  mentions  him  to  explain  the  origin  and 
the  earlier  life  of  man,  nor  to  advance  a  conjecture  concerning  his  future  destiny. 
Buddhism  knows  God  in  no  wise,"  &c. 

The  same  writer  adds  to  this  statement  the  following  words  (certainly  very 
worthy  of  being  laid  to  heart)  : — "  The  human  mind  has  hitherto  been  observed 
scarcely  anywhere  else  than  among  the  races  to  which  we  ourselves  belong. 
These  races  doubtless  deserve  a  very  large  place  in  our  studies  ;  but  although  they 
are  the  most  important,  they  are  not  the  only  ones.  Must  not  the  others  also  be 
taken  into  consideration,  however  inferior  we  may  deem  them  ?  If  they  do  not 
fit  into  the  hastily  constructed  frame,  must  we  distort  them  in  order  to  be  able  to 
adapt  them  to  our  too  contracted  theories  ?  oris  it  not  better  to  acknowledge  that 
the  old  systems  are  defective,  and  that  they  cannot  comprehend  the  whole  of  that 
which  they  pretend  to  explain  ?" 


APPENDIX.  321 

(33)  That  the  art  of  numeration,  and  the  science  of  mathematics  erected  there- 
on, is  not  any  thing  innate  in  the  human  mind,  but  is  only  gradually  developed 
by  education  and  cultivation,  is  proved  by  the  example  of  the  savage  tribes  of 
Australia  and  Brazil  who  have  not  carried  their  numeral  system  beyond  three  or 
four,  and  can  only  indicate  higher  numbers  by  gestures.  Oldfield  even  describes 
a  tribe  who  count  no  further  than  the  number  two  and  designate  all  beyond  by 
t\i&  -word  bool-t ha,  which  signifies  "many."  A  native  of  this  tribe,  wishing  to 
give  the  narrator  an  idea  of  the  number  of  men  killed  in  a  battle,  tried  at  first  by 
mentioning  the  names  of  those  who  had  fallen,  and  at  the  mention  of  each  name 
he  stretched  out  a  finger ;  but  after  several  vain  attempts  of  this  sort,  he  ended 
by  raising  one  hand  three  times  in  succession,  by  which  he  wished  it  to  be  under- 
stood that  the  number  amounted  to  fifteen. 

Generally,  all  numeration  began  with  the  fingers  or  toes ;  and  among  most 
savage  tribes  it  has  remained  at  that  stage  to  the  present  time.  Hence,  /ive,  ten 
and  tiventy  everywhere  form  the  fundamental  numbers ;  and  indeed  the  verbal 
signs  for  these  numbers  agree  with  the  names  of  those  parts  of  the  body.  Among 
many  savage  tribes  of  Africa,  America,  &c.,  for  example,  the  number  y?z^i?  is 
called  "a  whole  hand,"  the  number  ten  "two  hands,"  /w'i?w/'^  "a  whole  man." 
The  number  six  is  denoted  by  the  expression  "  one  of  the  other  hand,"  &c.  ;  the 
number  eleven  is  called  "one  of  the  foot,"  and  so  on.  Twenty-one  is  called  "  one 
of  the  hand  of  another  Indian,"  &c.  In  some  instances  words  expressing  number 
are  taken  from  the  properties  of  the  individual  fingers ;  in  others  the  names  of 
other  natural  objects  which  are  present  once  or  oftener,  serve  as  numeral  designa- 
tions. Thus  the  ancient  Indians  said  earth  or  moon  for  one,  eye  or  arm  or  wing 
for  two;  for  three  Rama,  or  fire,  or  property,  because  they  accepted  three  Ramas, 
three  kinds  of  fire,  and  three  properties;  ior /our  they  said  age  or  Veda,  because 
they  accepted  four  ages  and  four  Vedas,  and  so  on.  For  /oicr  the  Abipoins  in 
America  say  "  ostrich-foot,"  because  it  has  four  toes.  The  custom  of  tying  up 
pine-cones  in  parcels  of  four  has  in  some  of  the  South-Sea  Islands  led  to  the  num- 
ber four  being  denoted  by  the  word  "  pono,'  which  signifies  a  packet,  while  for 
ten  and  a  hundred  the  words  for  bundle  and  great  packet  are  used. 

Moreover,  counting  by  5,  10  or  20,  or  the  number  of  the  fingers  and  toes,  is  so 
general  that  departures  from  it  must  be  regarded  only  as  exceptions  :  and  it  lies 
at  bottom  of  the  numeral  systems  of  the  most  advanced  nations. 

Some  observations  seem  to  prove  that  the  beasts  also  are  able  to  count.  A 
mouse,  from  whom  nine  young  ones  had  been  taken,  came  nine  times,  to  fetch 
them  back  one  by  one,  and  then  no  more,  although  she  had  not  been  able  to  look 
into  the  cap  in  which  they  were  imprisoned.  The  tnagpie  can  count  to  four,  but 
no  further.  If  four  hunters  hide  themselves  before  her  eyes,  and  three  of  them 
go  away,  she  knows  that  one  is  still  there,  and  is  on  her  guard  ;  but  if,  on  the 
contrary,  there  are  five  of  them,  and  four  go  away,  she  thinks  that  all  are  gone, 
and  becomes  careless. 

(34)  Animals  also  use  tools.  Apes  push  stones  between  the  open  valves  of  the 
mussel-shell  to  prevent  their  closing,  and  open  the  shells  of  oysters  by  striking 
them  with  stones.  Still  better  known  is  the  fact  that  apes  defend  themselves 
with  sticks  or  cudgels,  and  hurl  down  branches  or  heavy  fruits  from  the  trees 
upon  their  pursuers.     And  Forbes  observes  (^Eleven   Years  in  Ceylon)  that  wild 


322  APPENDIX. 

elephants  break  off  boughs  from  the  trees  to  use  them  for  keeping  off  the  flies. 
It  is  well  known  that,  when  tamed  or  under  training,  beasts  learn  to  use  all 
manner  of  tools  with  great  dexterity.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  related  of  many 
wild  tribes  that  they  have  scarcely  any  idea  of  using  tools.  Thus  the  Mincopies 
(the  black  inhabitants  of  the  Andaman  Islands,  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal),  according 
to  a  report  made  by  travellers  to  the  Paris  Anthropological  Society,  possess  neither 
dwellings  nor  hatchets  or  the  like.  They  know  not  the  use  of  fire,  leave  their 
dead  unburied,  have  no  regulation  or  custom  concerning  marriage,  and  appear  in 
respect  to  their  J'ccza/ instincts  to  be  lower  than  the  beasts.  Of  them,  of  whom 
Colebroke  said  that  their  form  and  features  expressed  the  extreme  of  wretched- 
ness and  savagery,  and  more  recent  accounts  mention  incredible  traits  of  animal 
barbarism,  R.  Owen  has  lately  (as  Schaaffhausen  says  in  a  communication  to  the 
Niederrlieitiische  Gesellsclta/t  fiir  Natur-  und  Heilkitnde,  June  S,  1864)  been  able 
to  prove  that  in  some  characteristics  of  their  bodily  structure,  especially  of  their 
bony  system,  they  exhibit  a  lower  grade  of  organization  —  which,  in  connection 
with  their  mental  rudeness,  must  appear  specially  worthy  of  notice. 

(35)  That  many  wild  tribes  of  Africa,  America,  Australia  and  Asia,  as  well  as 
the  islands  of  Oceania,  have  no  idea  of  the  use  of  clothing  and  go  perfectly  naked, 
is  well  known  and  is  sufficiently  proved  by  the  testimonies  already  adduced.  In- 
deed, when  clothing  is  offered  to  them,  they  scorn  it.  In  1S58  the  American  fri- 
gate "  Niagara"  rescued  455  Africans  from  the  slave-ship  "Elcho,"  in  order  to 
carry  them  back  to  their  native  country.  Dr.  Rainey,  who  accompanied  them, 
writes  of  these  savages  : — "  They  are  altogether  very  dirty  and  refuse  to  wear  any 
clothes.  They  cannot  be  prevailed  upon  to  comply  with  even  those  measures  of 
cleanliness  which  are  absolutely  indispensable  for  the  preservation  of  health. 
The  clothes  which  were  given  them  in  Charleston  they  immediately  rent  to  pieces. 
It  is  seldom  that  one  cares  for  another  ;  the  utmost  they  will  do  is  to  assist  each 
other  if  their  back  itches.  Even  for  their  sick  and  dying  they  have  not  the  least 
concern.  If  one  of  them  has  died,  they  let  the  corpse  lie  amongst  them  for 
hours,  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  But  scarcely  has  the  last  sign  of  life  disap- 
peared ere  they  take  possession  without  ceremony,  of  his  coverlet,  his  spoon,  and 
whatever  else  he  may  have  used.  They  are  the  most  imbecile,  brutish,  pitiable 
creatures  I  ever  came  across."  (See  Allgetn.  Zeitung,  1858,  No.  313.)  Similarly 
Wilhelm  Bischoff  (Ausland,  1S60,  No.  3)  states,  concerning  his  impressions  in 
the  American  slave-States : — "The  genuine  woolly-head,  especially  as  he  is  not 
seldom  found  among  the  plantation-negroes,  makes  upon  the  European,  who  is 
not  accustomed  to  such  a  sight,  an  extremely  disagreeable  impression,  which  is 
aggravated  by  their  character  being,  as  a  rule,  in  perfect  correspondence  with 
their  ugly  exterior.  It  would  be  difficult  in  Europe,  especially  in  Germany,  to 
find  a  stock  that  could,  even  remotely,  be  compared  with  this  race.  Except 
speech  and  form,  these  negroes  have  in  them  scarcely  one  mark  of  humanity  ;  all 
their  movements,  their  entire  deportment,  remind  one  rather  of  the  brute;  and 
they  seem  totally  incapable  of  any  higher  culture,"  &c.  "Almost  all  are  thieves 
and  liars;  hence  the  evidence  of  a  black  has  no  validity  in  a  court  of  justice.  It 
is  useless  trouble  to  make  them  understand  the  wrong  of  this,  because  they  are 
altogether  ignorant  of  the  word  shame,"  &c. 

Of  the  Nuehr  negroes  in  Africa,  Sir  S.  W.  Baker  (/.  c.)  says  :  "  They  carry  the 


APPENDIX.  1,2^ 

nature  of  savages  pretty  well  to  the  highest  pitch.  The  men  go  as  naked  as  they 
were  born  ;  their  bodies  are  rubbed  in  with  ashes,  and  their  hair  dyed  red  with  a 
wash  of  ashes  and  cow's  urine.  These  fellows  are  the  veriest  devils  I  ever  saw  ; 
there  is  no  other  expression  for  them.  Even  the  nnmarried  women  are  quite 
naked  ;  the  married  wear  a  fringe  of  grass  round  their  loins."  The  same  author 
gives  a  similar  account  of  the  negroes  of  Kytschland,  of  the  Latukas  iu  the  region 
of  the  Nile-sources,  &c. 

(36)  The  speech  of  the  Fans  of  West  Africa  is,  Du  Chaillu  says,  a  collection  of 
guttural  tones  which  no  one  can  understand  ;  and  still  worse  and  harsher  is  the 
speech  of  the  Oschebas.  De  la  Gironniere,  who  staid  some  days  among  the 
Ajetas  on  the  Philippine  island  of  Luzon,  says  that  the  people  appeared  to  him 
like  a  large  family  of  apes,  and  that  iAe  sounds  they  uttered  resembled  the  short 
shriek  of  those  animals,  and  their  movements  also  were  the  same.  The  Brazilian 
Botokudo  has,  according  to  Adolphe  d'Assier  (/.  c.)  an  extremely  imperfect  lan- 
guage, indicating  by  the  same  word  a  number  of  tolerably  diverse  objects.  Thus 
the  word  tschohn  signifies  at  the  same  time  tree,  beam,  twig,  chip ;  the  word  po : 
foot,  hand,  finger,  toe,  nail,  heel,  &c.  The  Australian  language  is  very  poor, 
possessing  only  a  few  hundred  words,  and  among  them  not  one  to  express  a  gen- 
eral idea.  Thus  they  have  denominations  for  individual  trees,  but  no  word  for 
the  notion  "  tree."  The  same  is  true  of  the  languages  of  many  savage  peoples, 
which,  as  a  rule,  are  quite  destitute  of  expressions  for  general  notions  of  proper- 
ties which  at  the  same  time  belong  to  different  bodies,  as  "color,"  "tone," 
"tree,"  &c.  They  have  a  special  word  for  each  kind  of  color,  for  each  kind  of 
tree,  but  no  general  designation.  The  language  of  the  savages  of  Borneo  and 
Sumatra  is  said  to  be  rather  a  sort  of  brutish  cackle  or  croak  than  a  real  human 
mode  of  expression.  The  speech  of  the  Hottentots  and  Bushmen,  too,  is  distin- 
guished by  its  poverty  in  words.  Generally,  savages  are  accustomed  to  talk  more 
by  gestures  and  looks  than  by  actual  tones.  The  lower  in  the  scale  a  people  or  a 
man  is,  the  poorer  are  they  in  words,  while  wealth  of  words  is  a  special  charac- 
teristic of  superior  minds ;  for  word  is  nothing  else  but  the  incarnation  of  thought. 
The  Veddahs  in  Ceylon,  Sir  Emerson  Tennent  tells  us,  mutually  make  themselves 
understood  almost  entirely  by  signs,  grimaces  and  guttural  sounds,  which  have 
little  resemblance  to  definite  words  or  language  in  general. 

That  language,  however,  is  not  exclusively  the  property  of  man  is  shown  by 
the  circumstance  that  brutes  also  posse.=s  the  faculty  of  mutual  converse  and  com- 
munication in  a  very  high  degree.  The  brutes  understand  each  other,  they  under- 
stand us  and  make  themselves  understood  by  us,  all  which  cannot  be  done  without 
a  sort  of  language.  It  is  very  well  known  that  dogs  know  how  to  inform  their 
masters,  in  relation  to  very  definite  matters,  by  gestures,  looks,  play  of  the  eyes, 
barking,  whining,  &c. ;  and  it  is  as  well  known  that  dogs  understand  exactly  what 
is  said  of  them,  or  when  orders  are  given  to  them.  Every  animal  has  its  peculiar 
language  and  a  number  of  determined  sounds  to  express  its  wishes,  wants,  sensa- 
tions, &c.  Thus  Dupont  has,  by  close  observation,  found  that  pigeons  and 
fowls  have  twelve  different  tones,  dogs  have  fifteen,  cats  fourteen,  horned  cattle 
twenty-two,  &c. — an  estimate  which  is  probably  much  too  low.  At  first  all  the 
tones  were  "  guttural  "  or  throat-tones,  as  is  still  the  case  with  brutes  and  sav- 
ages ;  later  the  "  labial  sounds  "  were  added.     Besides,  as  Pouchet  justly  remarks. 


324 


APPENDIX. 


language,  which  is  only  a  simple  means  of  communication  between  two  living 
beings,  and  as  sign-  and  tone-language,  though  not  as  verbal  language,  belongs  at 
the  same  time  to  man  and  beast,  must  be  distinguished  from  speech, —  which  is 
exclusively  the  property  of  man,  but  is  only  possible  with  a  certain  development 
of  articulate  verbal  language  and  the  existence  of  designations  for  general  ideas. 
There  is,  according  to  Clemence  Royer,  a  greater  difference  between  the  most 
highly  developed  analytical  languages,  or  between  the  language  of  a  Shakespeare 
or  Corneille,  and  that  of  a  Papuan  negro,  than  between  the  latter  and  the  stam- 
mering cry  of  an  angry  ape  when  scolding  his  female  or  young.  Also  the  tones 
which  apes  are  accustomed  to  utter  exhibit  a  close  approximation  to  the  lowest 
primitive  forms  of  human  speech.  "Language,"  says  H.  Tuttle,  "is  the  ex- 
pression of  thought ;  and  even  if  the  thoughts  which  the  brutes  unmistakably 
communicate  to  one  another  are  not  identical  with  the  human,  at  any  rate  they 
are  analogous.  The  dog  calls  his  companions  or  his  master  by  means  of  an  al- 
together peculiar  baying  ;  in  the  roaring  of  the  lion,  the  snarl  of  the  tiger,  the 
song  of  the  bird  and  the  thousand-fold  modes  of  sound  of  the  insect  world  are 
found  all  the  modulations  of  the  expression  of  feeling  and  mutual  intelligence, 
from  the  alluring  call  to  the  warning  signal,  from  love  to  fury,  &c.,  &c.  Lastly, 
in  the  comparison  of  brute  with  human  language,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
parrots,  starlings,  ravens,  &c.,  are  able  to  utter  articulate  sounds,  and  many 
words  very  distinctly,  and,  in  fact,  with  consciousness  of  their  purport,  even  with- 
out having  been  expressly  taught,  and  merely  from  voluntary  imitation  and  inde- 
pendent observation. 

(37)  According  to  the  distinguished  linguist  A.  Schleicher  ( Ueber  die  Bedetitung 
der  Sprache  filr  die  Naturgeschichte  des  Menschen,  1865),  language  is  something 
which  has  gradually  grown,  and  which  once  was  not  existing.  All  the  more 
highly  organized  languages  have  little  by  little  arisen  or  been  developed  from 
simple  language-organisms  in  the  course  of  enormous  periods.  The  languages 
of  simplest  construction  have  been  gradually  formed  out  of  so-called  vocal  ges- 
tures and  imitative  sounds,  such  as  the  brutes  also  possess ;  and  language  itself 
is  the  product  of  a  gradual  growth  according  to  vital  laws  which,  in  their  essential 
features,  we  are  able  to  indicate.  This  growth  took  place  in  connection  and 
simultaneously  with  the  greater  improvement  of  the  brain  and  the  vocal  organs. 

Schleicher,  however,  in  contradiction  to  M.  Pouchet,  defines  language  as  the  ex- 
pression of  thought  by  means  of  words  ;  and  he  holds  it  to  be  exclusively  charac- 
teristic of  man,  while  vocal  gesture  belongs  to  the  brute  also.  Since,  according 
to  him,  language  first  made  the  man,  our  ancestors  were  not  from  the  beginning 
that  which  we  now  call  man  ;  and  hence  the  results  of  linguistic  science  also  just, 
like  those  of  natural  science,  lead  "  decidedly  to  the  adoption  of  a  gradual  de- 
velopment of  man  out  of  lower  forms." 

J.  Grimm,  also,  the  renowned  German  etymologist,  in  his  well-known  pamphlet 
on  the  origin  of  language  (Ueber  de?t  Ursprung  der  Sprache,  VI.  Aufl.,  Ber- 
lin, 1866),  calls  the  latter  "a  progressive  work,"  "a  difficult  acquisition"  of  man, 
and  says  expressly  that  it  is  not  innate,  but,  in  its  origin  as  well  as  its  progress, 
is  "  acquired  "  by  us.  Language,  according  to  him,  was  imperfect  at  first  and 
has  gradually  increased  in  value  ;  hence  it  cannot  have  emanated  from  God.  All 
verbal  roots  contain  sensuous  representations  ;  and  all  ideas  originate  from  the 


APPENDIX.  325 

intuitions  of  the  senses.  From  the  notion  of  breathing  comes  that  ■  of  living ; 
from  the  idea  of  expiring  (breathing  out)  that  of  dying ;  from  that  of  crowing, 
the  idea  of  a  cock,  &c.,  &c. 

According  to  J.  P.  Lesley  (/.  c),  every  language  has  a  certain  number  of  roots 
(200-600)  from  which  it  has  been  developed.  Now,  for  the  origin  of  these  roots 
or  germs  there  are  only  three  possibilities: — they  were  either  communicated  by 
divine  revelation  or  the  gift  of  a  ready-made  language,  or  resulted  from  the  gift 
of  a  capacity  of  language  to  the  first  men,  or  finally,  were  produced  by  a  higher, 
a  human  development  of  a  faculty  of  expression  diffused  throughout  the  animal 
world.  Now-a-days,  says  Lesley,  the  first  of  these  possibilities  can  only  be  en- 
tertained by  those  who  believe  in  Adam  and  Eve,  and  is  inadmissible  on  account 
of  the  7>iultipliciiy  of  languages.  Scientifically  only  the  last  two  can  now  be 
spoken  of,  while  the  circumstance  that  all  animals  have  a  sort  of  language,  and 
that  the  human  faculty  of  speech  is  greater  only  because  the  human  brain  is 
larger  and  more  finely  organized,  speaks  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  last  of  these 
possibilities.  At  any  rate,  according  to  Lesley,  the  original  development  of  lan- 
guage was  just  as  gradual  as  that  which  we  now  observe  in  every  child  ;  and  the 
language  of  a  nation  grows  and  changes  with  its  changing  mental  condition. 
We  shall  never  fathom  the  languages  of  the  so-called  Stone-age  ;  they  have  long 
ago  been  lost  and  replaced  by  others.  Language  is  a  portion  of  natural  science  ; 
words  and  language  live  and  become  e.xtinct,  exactly  as  living  beings  do,  and  like 
them  become  fossil  also. 

The  following  are  dead,  having  completed  their  cycle  of  life  : — Sanskrit,  Pehlvi, 
Egyptian,  Chaldee,  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin. 

(38)  The  limited  nature  of  our  physical  knowledge  and  the  change  or  addition 
which  the  things  to  be  known  undergo  or  receive  within  our  physical  means  of 
knowledge  or  senses,  form  the  last  citadel  within  which  philosophical  spiritual- 
ism has  retreated,  after  it  has  been  victoriously  driven  from  the  field  at  all  other 
points  by  philosophical  materialism  or  realism.  Sulking  solitary  upon  deserted 
rocks,  it  hopes  at  some  more  favorable  time  to  be  able  from  this  point  again  to 
reconquer  the  lost  territory.  But  there  is  this  in  opposition  ton,  that  it  is  equally 
or  perhaps  even  less  able  than  its  opponent  to  give  any  account  of  what  the  so- 
called  tkit!g\s  in  itself,  or  of  what  the  thing  is  without  its  phenomena.  Things, 
or  more  properly  speaking,  the  material  movements  of  the  external  world  within 
our  organs  of  sense  may  indeed  only  then  receive  the  properties  which  we  ascribe 
to  them, —  tones,  colors,  odors,  nay,  even  sensations  of  heat,  light,  taste,  &c., 
may  only  be  additions  of  our  subjective  I  to  the  objective  external  world, —  and 
the  latter,  when  vvu  deprive  it  of  these  additions,  may  appear  to  be  only  an  ac- 
cumulation or  sum  of  innumerable  atoms  or  particles  of  matter  vibrating  against 
and  among  each  other  in  the  most  multifarious  forms  and  relations,  but  never- 
theless these  movements  or  in  general  things  are  not  on  this  account  less  real  or 
actual,  and  in  the  form  of  contemplative  ideas  constitute  the  foundation  of  all 
human  knowledge.  Locke,  the  celebrated  founder  of  sensualism,  knew  this  very 
well,  for  he  ascribed  a  great  part  of  the  properties  of  bodies  to  our  sensitivity  and 
distinguished  between  what  he  called  pritnary  and  Jfci7«(/arv  properties  of  things, 
referring  to  the  former,  extension,  impermeability,  form,  motion  or  rest  and  num- 
ber, and  to  the  latter  color,  tone,  taste,  odor,   hardness,  softness,  roughness,  &c. 


326  APPENDIX. 

The  materialistic  philosophers  of  antiquity  also,  such  as  Epicurus,  distinguished 
between  the  sensorial  qualities  of  things  or  the  sensation  of  the  organized  animal 
body,  and  the  things  themselves,  but  added  that  beyond  ihe  things  of  the  phenom- 
enal world  nothing  existed  and  there  was  nothing  to  seek.  It  is  therefore  a 
grievous  error  when,  as  we  so  often  hear  in  the  present  day,  this  distinction  is 
described  as  a  bran-new  discovery  of  science  (especially  the  physiology  of  the 
organs  of  the  senses),  whilst  even  the  simplest  consideration  without  any  scientific 
cultivation  leads  us  to  separate  our  sensation  from  the  action  causing  the  sensa- 
tion. And  it  is  incomprehensible,  how  so  acute  a  thinker  as  F.  A.  Lange,  could 
allow  himself  in  his  well-known  History  of  Materialism  (Iserlohn,  1866)  to  be  led 
by  this  circumstance  and  tlie  well-known  distinction  by  Kant  of  the  thing  itself 
from  the  phenomenon  to  go  directly  against  materialism  and  even  in  accord  with 
Kant  to  support  the  maxim,  that  our  ideas  do  not  accommodate  themselves  to  the 
objects,  but  the  objects  to  our  ideas.  The  simple  consequence  of  this  conception 
would  be  the  absurd  assumption  that  all  that  we  recognize  is  only  an  illusion  of 
the  senses, —  an  assumption  which  must  make  an  end  not  only  of  all  philosophy 
but  of  all  knowledge.  Even  the  imperfection  and  the  sufficiently  demonstrated 
limitation  of  our  sensorial  perception,  which  does  not  even  possess  a  direct  organ 
of  perfection  for  so  many  motions  which  occur  in  nature,  and  in  this  respect  is 
perhaps  exceeded  by  many  animals,  will  not  suffice  to  furnish  a  scientific  founda- 
tion for  the  doctrine  of  Kant,  which  is  derived  from  pure  speculation.  Kant's 
"thing  itself "  is  a  purely  ideal  entity,  or  a  logical  and  empirical  nonentity,  of 
the  connection  of  which  with  our  ^^«c£'//«'(J«  proceeding  from  sensorial  recognition 
no  conception  can  possibly  be  formed.  A  "thing  itself"  is  inconceivable  for  the 
very  reason  that  all  things  exist  only  for  each  other,  and  without  reciprocal  rela- 
tions have  no  significance.  But  even  if  there  were  a  "  thing  itself,"  it  would  be 
absolutely  inconceivable  or  unrecognizable  and  could  claim  no  value  either  for  our 
action  or  for  our  thought.  We  know  things  every  where  all  the  better,  the  better 
we  investigate  their  manifold  relations  to  each  other  and  to  other  things.  Even 
the  qualities  or  properties  which  things  acquire  within  our  organs  and  our  ca- 
pacity of  conception  and  which  are  usually  designated  by  the  philosophers  as 
"appearance"  in  contradistinction  to  the  "thing  itself,"  are  therefore  no  less 
actual  and  always  represent  perfectly  definite  and  equally  actual  conditions  or 
movements  of  the  external  world.  Hence,  when  Lange  calls  the  v/orld  of  sense 
"a  product  of  our  organization,"  this  opinion  rests  upon  a  perfectly  one-sided 
conception  of  the  actually  existing  relations  and  upon  an  artificial  confusion  of 
the  state  of  the  case  which  is  in  itself  very  simple.  If  the  senses  sometimes  de- 
ceive us  by  a  false  appearance,  as,  for  example,  in  the  movements  of  the  celestial 
bodies,  we  correct  the  error  thus  produced  by  contemplation,  that  is,  by  the  ap- 
plication of  natural  laws,  which,  again,  we  have  ascertained  only  by  means  and 
as  a  consequence  of  sensorial  impressions.  The  deceptivity  of  sensorial  appear- 
ances in  particular  cases  is  therefore  established  by  X.he\T  truthfulness  in  general. 
The  author  proposes  hereafter  and  in  a  more  suitable  place  to  express  himself 
in  more  detail  upon  the  whole  of  the  very  important  matter  here  touched  upon, 
and  in  the  mean  while  recommends  those  philosophers  by  profession  who  still 
believe  in  the  "  Ding  an  sich,  "  and  without  any  appearance  of  a  reason  regard  it 
as  the  sole  determinant,  to  set  the  following  song  to  music  and  to  have  it  sung  at 
their  assemblies  in  place  of  the  grace  usual  among  theologians  : 


APPENDIX.  327 

O  Ding  an  sich, 
Wie  lieb'  ich  Dich, 
Du  aller  Dinge  Ding  ! 
Nur  blinder  Wahn 
Sielit  schief  Dich  an 
Und  aclitet  Dich  gering. 

Zwar  weiss  ich  nicht, 
Ob  Dein  Gesicht 
1st  hasslich  oder  schon? 
Und  ob  Du  wohl, 
Fest  oder  hohl, 
Magst  liegen  oder  stehn? 

Ob  jung,  ob  alt, 
Ob  warm,  ob  kalt, 
Ob  grade  oder  krumm, 
Ob  Du  voll  Zwist, 
Ob  sanft  Du  bist, 
Ob  pfiffig  oder  dumm? 

Doch  einerlei ! 
Dir  bleib'  ich  treu 
Und  unveranderlich, 
Und  thue  dar, 
Dass  nichts  ist  wahr, 
Als  nur  "das  Ding  an  sich!" 

(39)  The  greater  development  and  increased  perfection  of  the  brain  in  the 
higher  races  of  men  and  in  proportion  to  the  advance  of  civilization  is  a  fact  as 
well  demonstrated,  as  the  gradual  improvement  of  the  brain  and  its  individual 
parts  in  the  Vertebrate  series.  This  applies  especially  to  the  anterior  or  frontal 
portions  of  the  brain,  whilst  the  posterior  parts  appear  to  have  become  more 
flattened  with  advancing  civilization,  so  that  a  kind  of  greater  erection  of  the 
whole  brain  accompanied  by  a  widening  appears  to  have  been  a  chief  character- 
istic of  its  civilizatory  development.  This,  however,  relates  only  to  the  very  rough 
character  of  size  and  external  form,  whilst  the  internal  improvement  of  structure, 
composition,  formation  of  the  different  parts,  &c.,  generally  remains  concealed 
from  the  eye  of  the  anatomist.  But  it  is  in  this,  and  in  the  more  fully  developed 
function  of  the  activity  of  the  organ  that  we  have  the  main  lever  of  its  relative 
superiority  and  also  of  its  continued  development  in  the  future.  It  is  therefore 
a  sign  of  great  want  of  knowledge  or  judgment  when  we  find  in  many  works 
written  in  opposition  to  the  theory  of  evolution,  and  especially  against  the  conse- 
quences deduced  from  it  by  Carl  Vogt  with  regard  to  the  future  development  of 
the  human  race,  that  the  following  absurd  objection  is  brought  forward,  namely, 
that  an  enormous  and  injurious  development  of  the  brain  and  skull  or  a  morbid 
macrocephalism  (big-headedness)  must  be  the  necessary  consequence  of  that  de- 
velopment in  accordance  with  the  Darwinian  doctrine  of  evolution.  Even  within 
the  space  now  furnished  by  the  human  skull,  the  growth  of  which  is  subjected  to 
definite  laws,  prescribed  by  the  type  and  mutual  relations  with  the  other  organs 
and  parts  of  the  body,  there  is  still  so  much  superfluous  room  for  the  further  de- 
velopment of  the  organ  of  thought  in  its  indivividual  and  more  delicate  parts,  as 


328  APPENDIX. 

may  suffice  for  thousands  of  years  and  for  a  civilizatory  development  of  the 
widest  kind.  Moreover,  we  must  not  forget  that  by  means  of  its  present  form 
and  constitution  the  organ  is  already  capable  of  an  evolution  of  its  function  or 
activity  by  use  and  practice,  such  as  we  know  it  attains  only  in  very  few  men.  It 
is  a  fact  sufficiently  well-known  to  physiologists  that  the  structure  and  function 
of  an  organ  do  not  always  stand  in  an  equal  ratio  to  each  other,  but  often  in  a 
very  unequal  ratio,  so  that  the  hand,  for  example,  which  in  the  animals  most 
nearly  allied  to  man  serves  almost  entirely  as  a  grasping  or  motory  organ,  al- 
though approaching  very  near  to  that  of  man,  and  which  probably  served  only 
for  the  simplest  purposes  in  primeval  man,  is  capable  in  the  more  highly  de- 
veloped men  of  an  almost  marvellous  perfection  and  adroitness.  In  the  same 
way  the  brain  of  man  also  by  practice  and  cultivation  becomes  capable  of  per- 
formances which  appear  simply  incomprehensible  to  the  simple  and  uninstructed 
understanding.  If  we  add  to  this  that  a  brain  thus  developed  and  trained  under 
otherwise  favorable  circumstances  transfers  its  acquired  improvements  in  accord- 
ance with  the  law  of  inheritance  to  its  descendants,  we  shall  easily  see,  how,  by 
this  means,  a  sufficient  material  foundation  is  furnished  for  an  unlimited  intel- 
lectual progress,  without  its  being  necessary  for  the  organ  of  thought  itself  to  be- 
come inflated  to  a  bulk  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  structure  in  general.  Finally, 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  tliat  the  brain  of  the  cultivated  man  nowadays  acquires 
with  comparatively  less  effort  and  in  a  very  short  time  a  whole  series  of  ideas 
conceptions  and  knowledge,  on  the  creation  or  establishment  of  which  the  intel- 
lectual powers  of  many  generations  of  men  before  us  have  exhausted  themselves. 
The  present  trea-jure  of  civilization  posse-sed  by  man,  like  his  material  posses- 
sions, is  the  result  of  the  life  and  activity  of  the  whole  human  race  during  the 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  years  that  have  passed  away !  The  individual  suc- 
ceeding at  once  to  the  whole  of  tliis  valuable  inheritance  and  taking  his  stand 
upon  it  works  on  further,  and  this  it  is  above  all  that,  together  with  his  more 
perfect  organization,  confers  upon  man  his  immense  superiority  over  the  animal. 
Corporeally  man  is  in  fact  nothing  but  an  ennobled  and  more  perfectly  organized 
ape  ;  but  intelleclually  he  is,  in  comparison  to  animals,  a  demi-god,  that  is,  he 
has  become  so  by  the  gradual  evolution  of  his  powers  ! 

(40)  The  principle  of  the  division  of  labor,  as  Professor  E  Haeckel  has  shown  in 
an  admirable  discourse  on  that  subject,  (Berlin,  1869),  is  diffused  throughout  the 
whole  organic  world,  and  exerts  itself  not  only  in  the  arrangement  of  the  individ- 
ual organism  but  also  in  the  social  and  confederate  combinations  of  the  individual 
species  of  animals.  Life,  according  to  Haeckel,  is  nothing  but  the  mechanical 
total  result  of  the  performances  of  the  different  organs,  separated  by  the  division 
of  labor;  and  these  organs  on  their  part  have  been  developed  into  their  various 
forms  from  simpler  and  very  simple  forms, —  the  so-called  primitive  and  funda- 
mental organs, —  in  consequence  of  a  progressive  division  of  labor.  The  simplest 
or  primitive  form  of  organic  life  is,  as  is  well-known,  the  cell,  which,  as  the  small- 
est organic  individual  or  as  the  elementary  organism,  constitutes  all  organs 
whether  simple  or  complicated.  "  The  apparent  vital  unity  of  every  multicellular 
organism,  like  the  political  unity  of  every  human  state,  is  the  combined  result  of 
the  union  and  division  of  labor  of  these  little  citizens."  Every  cell  in  the  body  of 
the  animal  or  plant  has  thus  up  to  a  certain  degree  an  independent  life.  Those 
cells  which  are  the  most  favored  or  the  most  highly  endowed  undertake  the  high- 


APPENDIX.  329 

est  function  of  the  animal  body,  that  of  self-consciousness  or  of  sensation,  thought 
and  will. 

The  division  of  labor  of  the  organism  itself  is  a  result  of  the  struggle  for  existence 
in  the  course  of  many,  many  millions  of  years  under  the  pressure  of  the  external 
conditions  of  life,  and  guided  by  the  principles  of  variability  and  inheritance. 

(41)  Although  it  must  be  regarded  as  a  very  just  principle  that  "Whoever does 
not  work,  shall  not  eat,"  nevertheless  daily  experience  teaches  that  a  great  many 
do  eat,  who  do  not  work,  and  never  have  worked  ;  and  from  this  it  follows  as  an 
inevitable  consequence,  that  those  who  do  work  must  do  so  not  only  for  them- 
selves but  also  for  the  nourishment  of  a  whole  army  of  idlers.  And  this  makes  it 
appear  the  more  unjust  that  those  portions  of  the  happiness  of  life  which  fall  to 
the  lot  of  the  individual,  are  usually  smaller  in  proportion  as  the  exertion  of  his 
forces  for  the  maintenance  of  his  own  existence  and  that  of  others  is  great,  whilst 
the  best  and  largest  shares  are  in  general  carried  off  by  those  who  have  made 
very  slight,  if  any,  efforts  to  deserve  them.  It  must  not  be  objected  to  this  that 
these  people  live  upon  the  exertions  or  services  of  their  ancestors,  because  the 
most  essential  necessaries  of  life  are  exactly  those  which  cannot  be  created  be- 
forehand, and  when  they  are  consumed,  must  necessarily  have  been  produced  by 
the  exertions  of  contemporaries. 

What  applies  to  bodily  work,  applies  also,  and  almost  in  a  higher  degree,  to 
««/^//^f/«a/ labor,  which  usually  becomes  less  remunerative  and  more  proletarian, 
the  more  it  is  directed  towards  the  highest  and  most  truly  ideal  problems  of  hu- 
manity. Philosophers  and  poets  are  born  proletaires,  except  when  the  luck  of 
property  has  smiled  upon  them  in  their  cradle,  and  even  in  business  the  heaviest 
and  most  wearing  intellectual  labor  is  generally  performed  by  those  who  are 
worst  paid  for  it.  It  is  a  very  poor  consolation,  and  moreover  untrue,  to  say, 
that  want  drives  great  intellects  to  the  production  of  extraordinary  works,  and 
that  wealth  and  comfort  keep  them  from  it.  Whoever  is  kept  back  from  intel- 
lectual creation  by  wealth  or  comfort,  is  really  destitute  of  the  characters  of 
prominent  and  creative  spirits,  for  whom  the  outpouring  of  their  inward  thoughts 
into  the  bosom  of  mankind  is  as  much  a  necessity  as  eating,  drinking  and  sleep>- 
ing.  On  the  other  hand,  want  and  privation  make  people  discontented,  inatten- 
tive and  slow  of  thought,  and  rob  those  who  are  subjected  to  them  of  those  external 
and  internal  incitements  which  are  so  absolutely  necessary  for  the  development 
even  of  the  greatest  intellect.  The  leisure  which  is  indispensable  to  the  poet,  the 
philosopher,  &c. ,  is  wanting  to  the  man  who  is  pressed  by  want  and  the  cares  of 
life,  and  the  scattering  of  his  powers  which  is  caused  thereby  makes  him  attain 
that  which  forms  and  must  form  a  mainspring  to  the  progress  of  the  creative 
spirit, —  namely,  success, —  too  late,  if  at  all.  Of  course  so  long  as  the  principles 
which  now  govern  society  with  regard  to  the  struggle  for  existence  prevail,  it  is 
useless  to  think  of  improving  these  conditions,  as  only  such  intellectual  work  as 
furnishes  or  promises  to  furnish  a  direct  material  benefit,  is  remunerated.  What 
an  infinitely  injurious  influence  upon  the  qualitity  of  our  modern  literature  this 
circumstance  has  exerted  is  too  well-known  to  render  any  further  reference  to  it 
necessary.  Professorial  detail-work  or  hasty  workshop-work  speculating  upon 
the  pocket  of  the  reader,  with  abject  subjection  to  the  temporarily  prevailing 
spirit  or  taste  of  the  reader,  is  the  predominant  character  of  our  literature,  whilst 


530  APPENDIX. 

manly  rectitude  and  philosophical  conviction  are  seen  to  encounter  everywhere  a 
mountain  of  vulgarity,  ignorance  and  calumny. 

(42)  The  present  foundations  of  society  according  to  Radenhausen  (Isis,  Band 
IV.)  are  mistrust,  mutual  plunder  and  egotism  ;  it  is  a  war  of  every  one  against 
every  one,  in  which  it  is  not  philanthropy,  but  only  an  insatiable  striving  after 
gain  that  forms  the  mainspring.  F.  A.  Lange  (y.  S.  Mill's  Ansichten  iiber  die 
sociale  Frage,  &c.,  Duisburg,  1866),  who  like  us  regards  the  struggle  for  existence 
as  the  essential  spring  of  social  movement,  also  calls  egotism  the  mainspring  of 
our  society.  In  opposition  to  this,  according  to  Lange,  the  principles  of  justice 
and  fraternity  which  have  hitherto  played  only  a  secondary  part  in  the  state  and 
in  society,  must  be  made  the  principal  thing.  In  theory  we  possess  a  far  higher 
ideal  of  true  humanity  than  that  which  actually  exists.  Morals  must  be  intro- 
duced into  national  economy,  and  by  this  means  that  hateful  contradiction  be- 
tween theory  and  practice  which  moves  our  existing  society  to  its  misfortune 
must  be  got  rid  of.  Morality  itself  must,  however,  as  even  Adam  Smith  recom- 
mended, be  founded  \x^ox\  sympat hy ;  it  is  the  regard  of  the  individual  for  the 
whole  that  settles  morality. 

In  the  first  edition  of  his  work  Force  and  Matter  (pp.  256-57),  the  author  wrote 
the  following  passage  (afterwards  omitted)  on  the  present  state  of  our  society  : — 
"And  finally  let  us  once  more  look  a  little  more  closely  into  human  society  and 
enquire  whether,  or  not  it  acts  upon  moral  impulses.  Is  it  not  in  fact  a.bellum 
omnium  contra  omnes  ?  A  universal  race  in  which  every  one  strives  to  outrun 
or  even  to  destroy  every  body  else  ?  Could  we  not  almost  represent  it  as  Bur- 
meister  does  the  Brazilians  :  '  Every  one  does  what  he  thinks  he  may  do  without 
punishment ;  cheats,  takes  advantage  of,  deceives  and  makes  use  of  the  others  as 
well  as  he  can,  with  the  conviction  that  no  one  would  treat  him  any  better.  In 
genL»ral  they  regard  any  one  who  does  not  take  this  course  as  too  stupid  and  silly 
to  be  able  to  follow  it,'  &c."  Every  one  does  what  agrees  with  his  nature  and 
follows  the  impulses  communicated  to  him  either  by  this  or  by  the  external  condi- 
tions of  life ;  he  does  what  appears  to  him  to  be  advantageous  and  suitable  for 
himself  and  for  the  attainment  of  his  objects,  without  troubling  himself  about 
moral  principles  which  have  not  become  positive.  "All  men  are  practical  athe- 
ists" (Feuerbach).  A  man  who  cares  more  for  others  than  for  himself  is  usually, 
as  Cotta  says,  called  a  "good  silly  fellov;." 

(43)  M.  Busch  (Wanderungen  zivischen  Hudson  und  Mississippi,  pp.  129  et 
seq. ,  Stuttg.,  1854,)  describes  the  Shaker  town  of  Watervliet  in  America,  which 
had  adopted  the  principles  of  community  of  ail  property  and  non-compulsory 
labor  (work  at  pleasure).  The  colony  was  in  a  state  of  the  highest  prosperity. 
Pohl,  a  Scotchman,  founded,  also  in  America,  a  colony  in  which  all  constraint 
was  to  be  done  away  with,  and  every  one  was  to  work  only  according  to  his  in- 
clination and  powers.  The  idea  of  this  was  given  to  Pohl  by  his  own  factory  in 
Scotland,  in  which  he  brought  up  poor  children.  The  colony,  which  had  also 
adopted  the  principle  of  community  of  women,  proved  a  failure.  The  most  cele- 
brated of  the  many  societies  arranged  in  accordance  with  socialistic  principles  is 
the  great  Phalanstere  of  New  Jersey  in  America,  which  only  broke  up  after  thir- 
teen years  of  a  flourishing  existence.     Active  philanthropy  served  this  society  as  a 


APPENDIX.  331 

guiding  principle.  The  land  belonged  to  all  in  common  ;  all  also  dwelt  and  ate 
together.  Every  one  worked  at  what  he  pleased  and  as  much  as  he  liked ;  his 
work  was  estimated  and  put  to  his  credit  as  a  certain  sum.  Every  week  a  balanc- 
ing of  accounts  took  place,  when  the  liabilities  and  assets  of  each  individual  were 
settled  according  to  his  work  and  the  amount  due  by  him  to  the  society  for  his 
maintenance.  There  was  no  religion  or  church,  but  good  schools.  The  women 
had  exactly  the  same  rights  as  the  men,  even  to  the  right  of  voting  ;  and  a  select 
committee  governed  and  decided  upon  the  reception  of  new  members,  who  had 
to  submit  to  a  year  of  trial.  The  circumstance  that  many  availed  themselves  of 
the  Phalanstere  and  its  cheap  mode  of  life  only  in  order  to  save  up  a  capital  for 
themselves,  together  with  the  other  circumstance  that  the  capitalists  not  belonging 
to  the  Society  who  had  lent  the  money  for  the  purchase  of  the  land  called  it  in  for 
the  purpose  of  getting  possession  of  the  well-situated  and  beautifully  cultivated 
ground  in  order  to  sell  it  at  a  high  price,  caused  the  overthrow  of  the  undertaking. 

Even  in  the  prosaic  land  of  China  communism  has  taken  root.  For  there  has 
existed  in  that  country  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  a  secret  society 
called  Thiantihoei  (or  the  union  of  Heaven  and  earth),  which  has  extended  itself 
from  Canton  to  Malacca,  Java  and  the  Indian  Archipelago,  was  discovered  in  the 
year  1824,  and  made  itself  remarkable  by  a  rising  in  Malacca  in  the  year  1836. 
The  adherents  of  this  sect  desire  to  overcome  the  terrible  contrast  between  poverty 
and  riches,  and  start  from  the  principle  that  all  men  have  an  equal  right  to  the 
possession  of  the  earth  and  f)f  their  properties.  They  have  nothing  but  precepts 
of  brotherly  love  and  practical  benevolence,  and  strive  after  the  liberation  of 
mankind  from  misery  and  oppression.  (See  Milne,  Transact.  0/  the  Asiatic 
Sac,  1827,  Vol.  I.  and:  Thian-thi-hoih:  Geschichte  der  Briiderschaft  des  Him- 
niels  U7td  der  Erde,  der  communist ischen  Propaganda  China's.     Berlin,  1852.) 

That  community  of  goods  was  a  recognized  principle,  carried  out  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  by  many  religious  sects  of  ancient  and  modern  times,  is  a  matter 
of  history.  I  shall  refer  only  to  the  Jev/ish  sect  of  the  Essenes,  to  the  first 
Christian  communities,  the  Albigenses,  Waldenses,  Bohemian  brothers,  Herrn- 
huter,  &c. 

(44)  Radenhausen  in  his  Isis  (Vol.  IV.  pp.  445  et  secg.)  admirably  expounds 
the  economical  and  otlier  advantages  of  a  community  of  goods.  Distrust,  the 
thirst  for  unfair  gain,  plunder,  selfishness,  &c.,  which  at  present  form  the  founda- 
tions of  intercourse,  would  be  got  rid  of ;  and  in  the  same  proportion  culture, 
conscientiousness,  trust,  moral  worth,  Src,  would  increase.  "Whilst  at  present 
very  many,  and  precisely  those  who  are  in  an  influential  position,  seek  out  of 
selfishness,  to  obstruct  culture  —  the  community,  on  the  contrary,  would  seek  to 
foster  it  for  its  own  benefit,  in  order  that  each  individual  might  be  the  more 
profitable  to  the  whole."  The  striving  after  enjoyment  would  be  ennobled  ;  the 
maintenance  of  existence  would  be  much  facilitated,  as  communities  can  always 
exist  much  more  cheaply  than  individuals ;  work,  when  carried  on  in  common, 
would  become  easier,  more  agreeable,  more  healthy  and  more  profitable ;  the 
money-slavery  of  small  manufactories  would  cease ;  age  and  sickness  would  affect 
the  individual  with  respect  to  his  material  existence  no  more  than  temporary 
want  of  work ;  the  knowledge  and  skill  of  individuals  would  not  be  lost  at  their 
death,  but  would  benefit  the  community  and   their  successors ;  the  love  of  work 


332  APPENEIX. 

itself,  which  would  no  longer  be  mere  hired  work  but  would  be  for  the  service  of 
all  in  common,  would  increase  extraordinarily,  &c.,  &c. 

Even  the  transition  from  individual  life  to  community  would  not  be  so  rugged 
as  it  would  appear,  since  our  present  life  is  already  interwoven  much  more  than 
is  usually  supposed  with  communism.  The  direct  and  indirect  savings  in  govern- 
mental arrangements  which  are  now  so  costly,  and  in  the  many  devices  for  the 
security  and  maintenance  of  private  property,  would  be  incalculably  great ;  whilst 
the  numerous  losses  produced  by  the  whole  army  of  evil  inclinations,  such  as 
avarice,  hatred,  envy,  revenge,  calumny,  hard-heartedness,  &c.,  by  which  man- 
kind is  more  severely  punished  than  by  a  plague,  would  cease.  The  worth  of 
man,  hitherto  almost  disregarded  or  despised,  would  come  into  its  right  estima- 
tion, and  a  free  son  of  man  would  no  longer,  as  heretofore,  be  less  estimated,  as 
regards  his  worth,  than  a  sucking  pig  or  a  lamb  or  the  child  of  a  slave,  &c.,  &c. 

(45)  That  the  proprietary  classes  should  fear  and  detest  the  social  revolution 
from  personal  and  class  interests  is  intelligible  and  excusable,  although  the  no- 
tions which  are  usually  formed  of  such  revolutions  and  their  consequences  are 
generally  much  more  dreadful  than  the  things  themselves.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  incomprehensible  and  inexcusable  that  these  same  classes  should  be  just  as 
shy  and  recusant  as  towards  the  social  revolution  itself,  towards  all  proposals  in- 
tended to  check  social  evils  in  a  peaceable  manner  and  to  lead,  by  gradual  reform, 
to  a  better  state  of  things.  The  more  we  refuse  to  see  and  acknowledge  the  so- 
cial evils,  the  more  strongly  will  these  spring  up  in  silence,  and  the  lejs  possible 
will  it  be  in  the  end  to  escape  from  a  solution  of  them  by /oj-ce.  Therefore  in- 
stead of  pursuing  with  hatred  and  calumny  those  who  drag  the  mischief  to  light 
and  propose  means  for  its  cure,  they  should  be  greeted  with  thanks  and  listened 
to  quietly  and  intelligently.  Most  certainly  our  wealthy  burgher-class  or  the  so- 
called  Bourgeoisie,  in  which,  at  present,  the  most  political  influence  is.  concen- 
trated, are  destitute  of  the  most  necessary  qualification  for  this  purpose,  namely, 
cultivation.  Having  sprung  from  the  lower  state  of  society  and  gradually  at- 
tained to  riches  and  influence  by  the  unexampled  progress  of  industry,  trade  and 
commerce,  generally  to  their  own  astonishment,  they  know  nothing  higher  than 
the  assertion  of  this  position  and  material  comfort,  and  despise  everything  else  as 
unpractical  enthusiasm  and  ideology.  The  words  "  Money,"  "  Credit,"  "  Parlia- 
ment," "Ministerial  Responsibility,"  &c.,  exhaust  the  whole  treasury  of  their 
social  and  political  ideas, —  the  highest  flight  they  can  take  is  to  the  requirement 
of  a  "  free  course  for  every  one,"  which  they  regard  as  the  Non  plus  ultra  of 
liberalism,  or  to  the  removal  of  all  those  medieval  obstacles  which  still  stand  in 
the  way  of  free  labor.  But  they  forget  that  the  free  course  alone,  on  which  the 
best  places  are  already  occupied,  and  on  which  those  who  go  on  foot  can  often 
scarcely  find  room  among  the  crushing  wheels  of  those  who  travel  in  carriages, 
will  by  no  means  do,  and  that  we  must  not  talk  about  freedom  of  labor,  so  long 
as  this  is  subservient  to  private  capital  or  private  possessions.  In  point  of  fact  it 
is  still  exactly  as  it  was  formerly,  when  the  noble  made  his  serfs  work  for  him  ; 
only  the  parts  have  been  changed,  and  the  moral  pressure  which  Capital  and 
possessions  nowadays  exert  upon  the  laborer,  is  often  harder  than  the  old  physi- 
cal compulsion.  That  this  cannot  remain  so  permanently  is  clear,  and  it  will 
depend  entirely  upon  the  intelligence  or  want  of  intelligence  of  our  present  Bour- 


APPENDIX.  333 

geoisie,  or  independent  middle  class,  with  regard  to  social  questions,  whether  we 
are  now  advancing  towards  a  social  revolution,  with  all  its  terrible  and  incal- 
culable consequences,  or  towards  a  peaceful  and  gradual  reform. 

(46)  As  a  matter  of  course  there  can  be  no  question  here  of  a  formal  expropria- 
tion or  expulsion  of  the  owners  of  the  soil  for  the  benefit  of  the  state,  but  only  of 
a  redemption  of  the  land,  that  is  to  say,  a  repurchase  of  it  for  moderate  sums  to 
be  settled  by  estimate.  In  the  case  of  small  properties  or  pieces  of  ground,  es- 
pecially where  these  form  the  sole  possession  of  a  man  or  a  family,  this  estimate 
must  come  very  near  their  real  value  ;  whilst  larger  properties,  whole  manors  and 
the  like  must  be  subject  to  a  certain  reduction  in  the  estimate.  It  is  well  known 
that  very  many  and  perhaps  the  most  important  of  the  titles  to  the  private  possess- 
ion of  the  soil  which  was  originally  in  general  a  common  possession,  by  no  means 
originated  in  honest  acquisition,  but  from  the  times  of  conquest,  feudalism  and 
forcible  dominion,  and  for  this  reason  alone  we  might  have  the  less  hesitation 
about  their  retransfer  into  the  possession  of  the  community.  Nevertheless  as, 
after  the  lapse  of  so  long  a  time  investigations  of  the  justice  of  the  titles  of  acqui- 
sition can  no  longer  be  instituted,  and  as  we  cannot  make  the  descendants  answer- 
able for  the  sins  of  their  forefathers,  no  one  should  be  injured  in  his  existing 
rights,  but  only  compelled  to  give  back  his  possessions  to  the  state  for  a  sufficient 
compensation. 

Such  a  restoration  of  the  property  in  the  land  to  the  community,  moreover, 
even  if  we  leave  entirely  out  of  consideration  all  social  reasons  or  scruples  of  jus- 
tice, is  an  economical  or  political  necessity,  and  therefore  cannot  be  avoided  at 
last  in  spite  of  all  resistance.  For  the  more  the  population  increases,  the  more 
necessary  does  it  become  to  obtain  from  the  existing  soil  the  utmost  that  it  is 
capable  of  furnishing  both  in  quantity  and  kind.  It  can,  therefore,  no  longer  be 
left  to  the  individual  possessor  of  a  piece  of  ground  to  decide  whether  and  how 
far  he  will  make  it  capable  of  bearing,  but,  as  we  have  said,  in  the  interest  of  the 
community  as  much  must  be  got  out  of  it  as  it  is  capable  of  producing.  This, 
however,  can  of  course  only  be  done  by  cultivation  on  the  large  scale  carried  on, 
on  the  principles  of  scientific  agriculture,  and  by  rendering  every  spot  of  earth 
capable  of  cultivation  in  accordance  with  its  position  and  nature,  whilst  private 
possession  acts  in  this  respect  quite  arbitrarily  and  often  very  irrationally.  Thus 
in  England  great  stretches  of  cultivable  land  are  either  left  entirely  unemployed 
by  their  possessors  or  converted  into  meadows,  parks,  race-courses,  grand  gar- 
dens, &c.,  which  serve  only  for  the  gratification  of  individuals,  but  by  no  means 
for  the  general  benefit*  ;  and  the  same  thing  occurs  everywhere,  although  not  to 
so  great  an  extent  as  in  England. 

Whether  the  state  or  community  itself  will  undertake  the  cultivation  of  the  soil 
or  leave  it,  under  certain  guarantees  and  regulations,  to  agricultural  societies,  to 
the  country  communities,  or,  by  agreement,  to  private  individuals,  is  a  question 
of  secondary  importance,  which  will  probably  be  settled  in  different  ways  in  differ- 
ent places  in  accordance  with  the  conditions  of  the  country. 

The  iand-qiiestion  has,  as  is  well-known,  become  most  pressing  in  the  country 

*  The  county  of  Sutherland  contains  more  than  a  million  acres  of  land  which 
belong'  to  tivo  owners,  and  of  which  only  23,000  acres  are  under  cultivation.  The 
English  Lords  prefer  making  sheep-runs,  hunting  grounds  or  enormous  parks 
out  of  cultivable  soil. 


334  APPENDIX. 

of  political  freedom,  England,  in  consequence  of  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the 
possession  of  land,  and  here  the  agitation  in  favor  of  community  in  possession  of 
land  or  at  least  for  a  thorough-going  reform  of  the  existing  state  of  things  has 
already  made  itself  felt  and  obtained  many  adherents.  According  to  Radenhausen 
(Ist's,  Vol.  III.,  p.  354),  land-slavery  in  England  has  been  one  of  the  principal 
means  of  making  the  high  nobility  enormously  rich,  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
has  placed  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  agricultural  improvement  of 
the  soil,  which  is  so  necessary. 

Ground  rents  appear  to  be  most  unjust  when  they  are  produced  by  simple  in- 
crease of  the  population  and  the  augmented  value  of  landed  property  caused 
thereby.  This  is  most  striking  in  and  near  large,  growing  cities,  where  pieces  of 
land,  which  were  previously  almost  of  no  value,  often  become  real  gold-fields 
within  a  short  time.  This  kind  of  rent  or  augmentation  of  property  is  evidently 
produced  without  any  assistance  from  the  individual,  merely  by  the  industry  and 
activity  of  the  community,  which  nevertheless  leaves  this  result  of  its  industry  to 
the  individual  owner  of  the  property  without  any  deduction.  Here,  even  without 
the  introduction  of  communistic  possession  of  the  soil,  the  community  even  now, 
by  suitable  taxation,  might  be  made  at  least  a  joint  proprietor  of  the  benefit 
created  by  itself. 

(47)  This  proposition  is  very  different  from  that  which  has  also  been  made  of 
a  total  abolition  of  the  right  of  inheritance  ;  an  abolition  which  must  cause  such 
a  profound  alteration  of  all  social  conditions,  that  its  sudden  introduction  cannot 
be  imagined  except  by  means  of  the  most  reckless  power.  Social  reforms  cannot, 
like  political  ones,  be  suddenly  organized,  since  for  their  introduction  a  certain 
agreement  of  public  opinion  or  of  the  classes  of  society  is  absolutely  necessary. 
But  it  is  exactly  in  this  respect  that  the  proposed  method  of  a  limitation  of  the 
right  of  inheritance  particularly  recommends  itself  to  notice,  as  it  is  one  that  con- 
ducts quite  gradually  from  the  present  social  state  to  a  better  one,  without  dis- 
turbing any  one  in  his  possessions  during  his  life,  and  may  be  increased  or  made 
more  energetic  according  to  circumstances.  As  a  principle  the  limitation  of  the 
right  of  inheritance  has  long  been  recognized  in  the  form  of  the  succession  and 
legacy  duties  which  have  probably  been  introduced  in  all  countries ;  and  in  point 
of  fact  no  juster  and  less  pressing  duty  can  be  imagined  than  the  duty  on  inherit- 
ances, especially  when  these  are  indirect.  The  individual  has  acquired  what  he 
possesses  in  and  with  the  aid  of  the  community,  and  it  must  therefore  be 
regarded  only  as  just  and  equitable,  that  after  his  death  he  should  be  compelled 
to  give  up  to  the  community  a  portion  of  what  he  has  acquired  and  can  no  longer 
make  use  of !  Arbitrary  or  absurd  legacies,  such,  for  instance,  as  that  of  the 
rich  Englishman  who  left  his  whole  property  to  a  lady  with  whom  he  had  not  the 
slightest  acquaintance,  simply  from  his  admiration  for  her  beautiful  nose,  or  lega- 
cies to  very  distant  lateral  lines  who  are  not  in  want  of  them,  would  of  course 
meet  with  as  little  toleration  on  the  part  of  the  state,  as  the  enormous  private 
properties,  maintained  by  constant  inheritance,  which  constitute  a  state  within 
the  state,  a  power  of  money  within  the  power  of  the  state,  and  exert  both  on  their 
possessors  and  on  their  families  an  unnatural  influence  injurious  to  the  welfare  of 
the  community.  The  place  of  the  former  aristocracy  of  birth  has  been  gradually 
taken  by  an  aristocracy  0/  wealth,  wliich  at  least  is  as  strongly  opposed  to  demo- 


APPENDIX.  335 

cratic  principles  and  good  taste,  as  the  former,  and  hereafter,  if  a  barrier  is  not 
raised  against  it,  will  acquire  a  constantly  increasing  preponderance. 

It  may,  indeed,  be  objected  that  great  properties  generally  split  up  or  become 
divided  among  several  distinct  branches  by  inheritance.  Nevertheless  experience 
teaches  that  great  wealth  is  generally  maintained  in  individual  families  (to  which 
the  circumstance  that  the  rich  always  marry  among  the  rich  may  essentially  con- 
tribute) ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  great  properties  often  collect  by  inheritance  in 
individual  hands,  by  the  flowing  together  of  many  sources  from  various  sides. 
The  presumptive  heirs  erf  great  wealth  are  generally  regarded  by  most  people 
with  quite  different  eyes  from  ordinary  men,  and  indeed  nearly  as  beings  of  a 
higher  kind  ;  they  have  the  privilege  of  being  stupid,  lazy,  rude,  presumptuous, 
and  even  uncultivated,  without  losing  much  respect ;  for  one  is  certain  that  they 
will  one  day  easily  compensate  for  all  these  deficiencies  by  their  wealth,  and  in 
spite  of  them  take  a  prominent  and  influential  position  in  Society.  They  also 
generally  do  not  regard  it  as  their  duty  to  learn  or  do  much,  or  to  be  very  just  in 
their  other  duties  to  Society,  as  they  are  usually  quite  sure  of  their  advantageous 
lot  without  any  exertion  of  their  own. 

In  concluding  this  note  it  may  be  remarked,  moreover,  that  the  prohibition  of 
the  right  of  possession  and  inheritance  is  by  no  means  a  discovery  of  modern 
times,  but  is  already  thousands  of  years  old.  At  the  most  different  times  intelli- 
gent and  right-thinking  men  have  proposed  or  introduced  regulations  leading 
towards  it.  See  upon  this  subject  Radenhausen's  Isis  (Band  III.,  pp.  376  et 
seqq.),  where  it  is  demonstrated  that  at  various  periods  attacks  have  been  made 
on  behalf  of  the  common  weal  upon  the  right  of  possession  and  inheritance. 
Moreover,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  even  under  present  conditions  in  the 
State,  the  community,  the  family,  unions,  &c.,  we  already  possess  an  infinity  of 
communistic  arrangements,  all  of  which,  if  the  Manchester-theory  were  correct, 
ought  to  be  got  rid  of  and  left  solely  to  private  activity,  which  is  almost  always 
insufficient. 

(48)  The  desolate  condition  of  descendants  incapable  of  inheritance  and  left 
solely  to  public  beneficence  by  the  death,  age  or  illness  of  their  supporter  forms 
one  of  the  most  crying  and  obstinate  of  social  evils.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  pri- 
vately by  means  of  committees  and  benefit  societies,  as  well  as  by  the  numerous 
life  assurance  offices,  and  publicly  by  means  of  parochial  and  other  arrange- 
ments, the  misery  thus  produced  is  as  far  as  possible  counteracted.  But  every 
one  who  has  attained  even  a  little  insight  or  experience  in  these  matters  is  well 
aware  how  insufficient  and  defective  all  these  arrangements  are,  what  danger  of 
loss  there  is  in  them,  and  how  they  leave  one  in  the  lurch  precisely  in  the  worst 
cases.  The  object  would  be  attained  quite  differently  and  better  if  the  state  or 
the  community  were  to  take  charge  over  these  natural  cares  and  to  a  certain  extent 
form  a  great  and  universal  mutual  assurance  institution,  under  which  innocent 
destitution  would  be  an  impossibility.  The  contribution  which  every  individual 
gives  towards  the  burdens  of  the  state,  or  the  taxes,  would  of  course  have  to  be 
increased  in  such  a  measure  as  would  cover  the  expenses  thus  arising ;  but  the 
obligatory  contribution  of  all  (each  individual  according  to  his  powers  or  the 
amount  of  his  income)  would  probably  make  the  increase  very  small.  It  is  im- 
possible that  a  community  ordered  upon  humane  principles  should  tolerate  that 


336  APPENDIX. 

the  invalids  of  labor,  zs,  they  may  be  called,  after  having  devoted  their  whole 
life  and  their  powers  to  the  service  and  purposes  of  this  community,  should  when 
old  or  sick  be  compelled  to  want  or  even  to  die  of  hunger,  or  that  their  unen- 
dowed descendants,  children,  women,  &c.,  should  be  pitilessly  flung  into  the  arms 
of  wan  distress.  The  poor's  rates  and  other  arrangements  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor  at  present  existing  do  not  generally  fulfill  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
intended,  and  are  often  better  fitted  to  develop  ragamuffins  and  idle  paupers  or 
to  help  beggary,  than  to  relieve  real  and  innocent  poverty.  Nor  can  they  prevent 
the  most  terrible  and  heart-breaking  scenes  of  social  misery,  slow  starvation,  des- 
perate suicides,  &c.,  from  taking  place  almost  daily  in  the  midst  of  a  society 
which  is  rolling  in  superfluity. 

(49)  It  is  mere  nonsense  to  reject  the  assistance  of  the  state  upon  principles  and 
arguments  derived  from  the  nature  of  the  state  itself,  as  Wackernagel,  for  ex- 
ample, has  done,  in  his  essay  against  Lassalle.  The  state  is  not,  as  the  present 
Bourgeois-party  think  in  their  stupidity,  merely  a  mutual  law  and  protection 
office,  but  only  the  external  form  within  which  the  great  advances  in  civilization  of 
mankind  have  to  be  performed.  Everything  therefore  is  an  object  of  the  state 
which  promises  to  advance  the  intellectual  or  corporeal  happiness  and  comfort  of 
the  citizens,  its  individual  members,  and  which  the  majority  of  these  citizens  re- 
gards at  any  given  moment  as  serviceable  to  the  common  welfare.  Men  without 
state  are  inconceivable ;  hence  we  cannot  separate  the  individuals  from  the  idea 
of  the  state  and  consider  them  without  reference  to  it.  They  are  men  in  our  sense 
of  the  word  only  by  their  living  together  with  other  men  in  a  political  union,  and 
the  latter  itself  changes  in  its  nature  every  moment  with  the  changing  necessities 
or  degrees  of  cultivation  of  those  of  whom  it  is  composed.  In  this  sense  State-aid 
is  nothing  more  than  the  assistance  which  the  community  offers  to  the  individual, 
and  the  more  extensively  this  is  done  the  more  will  the  great  objects  of  humanity 
and  Manhood  be  attained.  Hence  state-aid  itself  is  not  in  question,  but  only  the 
mode  in  which  it  shall  be  exerted.  All  disputes  about  the  nature  and  purpose  of 
the  State  become  unnecessary  as  soon  as  the  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people  is  fully  recognized,  and  it  is  admitted  that  everything  must  be  law  that  the 
majority  of  the  people  will.  The  individual  freedom  of  which  the  adherents  of 
the  Bourgeois-State  speak  so  much,  really  exists  only  on  paper,  because  so  long 
as  social  equality  does  not  exist  it  becomes  force  and  club-law  in  opposition  to 
those  who  are  least  favored.  Of  what  use  to  the  poor  workman  is  the  power  of 
miiving  about  freely,  when  he  finds  the  same  misery  wherever  he  goes  ?  Of 
what  use  is  freedom  of  trade  to  him  when  he  must  everywhere  work  only  for 
those  who  alone  have  the  instruments  of  production  in  their  hands  ?  Where  is  the 
individual  freedom  c!  all  those  poor  people  or  workmen  whom  we  can  at  any 
moment  throw  upon  the  .streets  and  consign  to  the  extreme  of  want,  by  depriving 
them  of  their  scanty  employment  ?  Freedom  of  labor,  which  the  opponents  of 
State-aid  and  the  defenders  of  the  Bourgeois-state  praise  so  highly,  is  in  fact  at- 
tained by  State-aid  or  the  assistance  of  the  less-favored  by  the  community,  so  that 
every  honest,  healthy  man  who  is  willing  to  work  will  find  it  possible  to  earn  his 
independent  existence  by  work,  and  not  always  to  serve  as  the  slave  of  others. 
If  it  depended  only  upon  freedom  of  labor  in  the  liberalistic  sense  or  the  removal 
of  political  hindrances  which  narrow  this  freedom,  England  and  America  would 


APPENDIX.  337 

necessarily  be  the  most  blessed  countries  in  the  world,  whilst  in  reality  the  work- 
men there  have  exactly  the  same  and  in  part  still  greater  grievances  than  in  other 
countries,  and  in  the  former  country  the  social  contradictions  and  injustices  are 
greater  and  more  monstrous  than  anywhere  else.  Here  and  everywhere,  if  things 
continue  as  they  are  and  industry  on  a  large  scale  continues  to  overgrow  small 
businesses  in  the  same  proportion  as  hitherto,  it  will  finally  come  to  pass  that 
there  will  be  only  one  God  with  unlimited  power  in  the  world,  namely.  Mammon, 
or  property,  money  ;  and  human  society  will  consist  only  of  a  small  number  of 
millionaires  or  great  capitalists  and  an  enormous  army  of  proletaires, —  the  latter 
apparently  existing  solely  for  the  purpose  of  consuming  their  lives  in  the  service 
of  the  former. 

(so)  The  evident  decline  of  our  Universities  or  High  Schools  as  seminaries  of 
free  and  independent  science,  which  has  been  increasing  from  year  to  year  and  is 
pretty  generally  admitted,  is  due  to  a  series  of  causes,  of  which  the  following  are 
among  the  principal : — 

1.  The  pressure  exerted  by  the  existing  government  upon  the  teachers  or  es- 
tablished representatives  of  science  in  the  Universities,  which  renders  it  more  or 
less  impossible  for  the  individual  to  teach  anything  which  is  in  opposition  to  the 
views  or  necessities  of  the  Government  and  its  generally  reactionary  endeavors. 
By  this  means  a  checking  bridle  is  put  upon  every  new  and  suggestive  investiga- 
tion, and  an  almost  insuperable  obstacle  is  opposed  to  everything  that  rises  above 
the  ordinary  level.  Men  who  form  the  ornaments  of  science  and  who  will  shine 
upon  future  generations  as  stars  of  the  first  magnitude,  are  hunted  or  juggled 
away  from  the  universities  in  consequence  of  this  system  ;  whilst  men  of  small 
intellects  and  narrow  minded  pedlars  of  scientific  details  usurp  the  lofty  thrones 
from  which  the  light  of  enlightenment  and  intelligence  should  shine  down  upon 
the  nation.  If  we  add  to  this  the  incredible  diffusion  of  cliqiiism  in  our  High 
Schools,  the  bad  payment,  the  mean  and  dishonoring  hunting  after  hearers  or  stu- 
dents, the  depressed  position  of  the  private  tutors,  the  submissive  feeling  of  all 
those  who  hope  for  advancement  or  increase  of  pay,  and  many  other  things,  we 
shall  easily  understand  what  must  become  of  science  under  such  circumstances 
and  in  such  hands,  and  what  would  long  since  have  become  of  it,  if  it  did  not 
bear  in  itself  a  force  of  attraction  and  elevation  which  nothing  can  destroy. 

2.  The  extraordinary  universalization  of  culture,  which  draws  the  means  of 
culture  and  in  part  the  interest  in  culture  away  from  the  universities,  which  are 
usually  situated  in  small  and  imperfectly  developed  towns,  and  towards  the  great 
central  points  of  intercourse,  the  populous  cities  containing  a  numerous  and  in- 
telligent population.  In  many  of  these  cities  (for  example,  in  Frankfort  on  the 
Main)  more  is  often  done,  merely  by  private  activity,  for  science  and  scientific  de- 
velopment, than  in  the  actual  seminaries  destined  for  that  purpose  and  supported 
by  the  state  fs  well  as  by  old  donations  and  privileges. 

3.  The  antiquated  form  or  constitution  of  our  Universities,  derived  from  the 
middle  ages  and  contrasting  with  the  whole  spirit  of  modern  times,  which  exerts 
the  most  unfavorable  influence  not  only  upon  the  teachers,  but  also,  and  almost 
more,  upon  the  taught,  producing  the  absurd,  renommistic,  ragamuffin  student- 
life,  with  its  innumerable  barbarisms,  injury  to  character  and  health,  squandered 
powers,  &c. 


338  APPENDIX. 

4.  The  extraordinarily  advanced  importance  and  increase  of  printed  books 
which  conveys  to  the  pubHc  all  scientific  and  literary  productions  and  all  intel- 
lectual creations,  much  better,  more  easily  and  more  quickly  than  could  be  done 
by  the  Universities  which  were  formerly  to  a  certain  extent  regarded  as  individual 
central  suns  of  cultivation.  Nowadays  we  can  learn  nearly  every  thing  from 
books,  and  often  better  than  by  oral  intercourse  with  teachers ;  and  only  the 
practical  branches  of  knowledge  depending  upon  inspection,  observation  and  ex- 
periment, constitute,  to  a  certain  degree,  an  exception.  But  often  enough  the 
oral  discourse  of  the  University  teacher  is  nothing  more  than  a  tedious  repetition 
from  some  Compendium  or  Textbook  compiled  by  himself  or  by  others. 

5.  The  general  materialistic  Tendency  of  the  times,  which  has  extended  even 
to  the  higher  affairs  of  education  and  causes  only  those  branches  of  knowledge  to 
appear  of  importance  and  use  which,  as  Schiller  says,  look  like  milking  cows 
capable  of  supplying  butter.  All  the  higher  and  highest,  truly  humanistic  studies 
are  thus  pushed  into  a  corner  and  so  neglected  that  we  can  hardly  blame  any  one 
if  he  turns  his  powers  and  efforts  towards  other  objects.  And  nevertheless  the 
necessity  for  a  purely  human  or  universal  University-culture,  without  any  con- 
sideration of  the  purposes  of  any  calling,  is  at  present  stronger  and  more  pressing 
than  ever,  because  there  are  a  great  number  of  young  people  belonging  to  the 
higher  mercantile  or  industrial  station,  vvrho  do  not  intend  to  adopt  a  learned  ca- 
reer and  yet  imperatively  need  such  culture.  At  our  present  Universities  which 
almost  entirely  devote  themselves  to  the  purposes  of  the  learned  callings,  and 
whose  lists  of  lectures  put  forth  in  the  public  journals  as  regards  humanistic 
studies,  in  general  only  effect  a  pleasant  delusion  of  themselves  and  others,  they 
cannot  attain  this  object,  and  they  either  do  not  visit  them  at  all,  or  pass  the 
time  destined  for  that  purpose  in  trifling  pursuits.  What  we  require  at  present 
above  all,  therefore,  especially  in  Germany,  is  the  estabUshment  of  a  few  High 
Schools  or  Universities  which  would  leave  entirely  out  of  consideration  all  learned 
professions  and  only  cultivate  a  general  course  of  study,  developing  the  mind  in 
the  various  principal  branches  of  knowledge.  As  a  matter  of  course  these  institu- 
tions must  be  free  from  all  governmental  or  other  influence,  and  must  furnish 
free  space  for  every  philosophical  or  other  line  of  thought  so  far  as  it  moves 
within  scientific  bounds.  These  free  Universities,  moreover,  would  not  only  bene- 
fit the  unlearned  callings,  but  also  the  learned  professions,  for  which  they  would 
form  an  admirable  and  really  indispensably  necessary  preparation. 

(51)  The  diminution  of  the  daily  period  of  labor  and  the  establishment  of  a 
normal  working-day  of  from  8  to  10  hours  by  the  state  is  one  of  the  most  justifi- 
able requirements  of  the  working  class,  and  one  which  v/ill  certainly  in  time  bo 
fulfilled.  If  the  German  workingmen  who  for  the  last  nine  years  have  spent 
their  force  in  the  Lassallean  agitation  for  universal  suffrage  and  state-help,  which 
are  perfectly  useless  under  present  circumstances  and  have  not  advanced  one 
hair's  breadth  nearer  to  their  object,  had  selected  this  requirement  as  the  subject 
of  their  agitation,  they  would  by  this  time  probably  have  been  further  advanced 
than  they  are  at  present.  It  is  true  that  the  opponents  of  an  abridged  term  of 
labor  assert  that  the  workmen  would  not  occupy  those  hours  which  would  thus 
be  set  free  for  them  in  useful  or  improving  occupations,  but  pass  them  in  the 
public  house.     With  some  exceptions  this  may  be  correct  so  long  as  the  present 


APPENDIX.  339 

rudeness  and  want  of  cultivation,  which  stand  in  necessary  connection  with  the 
position  in  life  of  the  workman,  continues.  But  it  will  be  otherwise  as  soon  as 
the  workman  is  differently  educated  and  cultivated,  and  as  soon  as  he  can  see 
that  there  is  a  possibility  in  his  future  life  of  giving  a  further  development  to  the 
foundations  thus  laid,  whilst  under  present  circumstances  we  can  scarcely  blame 
him,  if  he  seeks  to  forget  in  sensual  enjoyments  his  unfortunate  and  unimprovable 
position  during  the  few  minutes  of  his  daily  freedom.  The  objections  raised 
from  the  economical  point  of  view  also  do  not  seem  to  be  tenable,  seeing  that  by 
the  better  preservation  of  the  power  and  good  will  to  work,  more  may  generally 
be  done  in  a  shorter  time  of  labor  than  in  a  longer  one,  which  produces  dejection 
and  laxity,  and  permanently  exhausts  the  powers  by  excessive  effort  and  the  want 
of  recreation. 

(52)  One  of  the  principal  sources  of  good  actions,  especially  as  regards  our  be- 
havior towards  our  fellow  men,  is ///y.  But  at  the  bottom  even  this  highest  of 
all  noble  sentiments  is  nothing  but  the  efflux  of  a  refined  egotism.  For  v/hen  we 
see  a  fellow  man  suffering  we  immediately  put  ourselves  in  imagination  in  the 
place  of  the  sufferer  and  ask  ourselves  what  would  be  our  own  feelings  if  we 
should  be  assisted  or  neglected  by  others.  The  disagreeable  sentiment  of  the 
imagined  helplessness  in  ourselves  becomes  immediately  converted  into  the  agree- 
able one  of  aid  conferred  and  liberation  from  a  depressed  position  as  soon  as  we 
have  actually  given  our  assistance  to  the  sufferer.  Of  course  this  presupposes  a 
certain  development  of  the  powers  of  sentiment  and  imagination  in  which  rude 
nations  or  individuals  are  more  or  less  deficient ;  this  want  of  the  sentiment  of 
pity  renders  them  cruel  and  spiteful  towards  their  fellow  man,  whilst  the  opposite 
character  is  produced  by  higher  cultivation  of  the  mind  and  heart.  Moreover,  we 
act  well,  as  regards  our  behavior  towards  mankind  in  general,  out  of  considera- 
tion for  our  own  weal  or  advantage,  for  our  good  fame,  our  social  position,  &c., 
as  well  as  out  of  respect  for  the  laws  and  fear  of  punishment,  whilst  all  these 
motives  would  fall  away  as  soon  as,  being  merely  limited  to  ourselves,  we  could 
follow  our  own  egotistical  impulses,  just  as  the  animals  do.  It  is  only  his  social 
relations,  considerations  of  the  common  weal  and  the  conviction  that  it  is  his  duty 
to  act  for  humanity  to  which  the  individual  is  indebted  for  everything  that  makes 
man  a  man,  and  renders  him  that  moral  being  which  the  moralists  and  theolo- 
logians  imagine  him  to  have  been  created  at  the  beginning.  Even  the  wickedness 
which  is  the  source  of  all  bad  actions  towards  our  fellow  men,  just  cis  pity  is  the 
source  of  all  our  good  ones,  depends  ultimately  upon  a  want  of  recognition  of 
this  relation  and  is  therefore  finally,  like  everything  evil,  a  product  of  want  of 
cultivation  and  ignorance.  Even  moral  indifference,  or  the  mere  abstaining  from 
bad  actions  towards  our  fellow  men,  depends  ultimately  upon  an  egotism  refined 
by  culture,  inasmuch  as  we  partially  feel  the  evil  that  we  inflict,  or  think  to  inflict 
upon  others,  in  consequence  of  the  process  of  thought  above  described,  as  if  it 
were  inflicted,  or  to  be  inflicted  upon  ourselves  and  abstain  from  the  action  in 
order  to  escape  from  this  disagreeable  feeling. 


CHIMI'AN'ZEE. 


BORNEAN  ORANG. 


INDEX. 


Abbeville,  35,  39 

Abel,  Dr 311 

Abipoias 321 

Abraham, 65 

Achilles, 66 

Adam,  the  Biblical, 293 

Adam  and  Eve, 162 

Agassiz,  Prof.  55,  126,  135 

Ajetas,  316,  323 

Albinus,  42 

Alexandria,  Library  of, 265 

Algodon  Bay,  79 

Alluvial  period 34,  61, 

Alluvial  soil,  89 

Alluvium 34,  278,  283 

America,  286,  330 

Amiens,  35,  39,  283 

Anatomy,  Comparative 301 

Andrias  Scheuchzeri,  278 

Antediluvian 278 

Anthropini 104,  294 

Anthropoids,  or  Anthropoid 
Apes,  107,  108,  150,  163,  295,  303 

Ants,  agricultural,    170 

Ape-man,  298 300 

Arabs,    160,  264 


Archeucephala,   118 

Archaic,  Vic.  d'  85 

Archaeology,  67,  99 

Arcy,  Cave  of 46 

Argj'lle,  Duke  of 318 

Aristotle 267 

Aryan  race,    65,  153,  160,  261,  287 

Assier,  d'  318,  323 

Associations,  productive, 227 

Aurignac,  Cave  of,  30,  39,  73,  278 

Aurochs,  47,  48,  85,  279 

Australians,  159,  169,  286,  287,  288 
292,  308,  323 

Av^-Lallemant,  Dr 317 

Aymard,  Dr 44 

Babylon, 66,  284 

Baer,  K.  E.  von 124.  125,  306 

Baker,  Sir  S 168 

BalticSea, 58 

Baltzer,  Prof.    293 

Bastain,  A 311 

Battel  A 295,  296 

Beaumont,  Elie  de 47 

Beddoe, 289 

Bird,  Dr 75 


342 


INDEX. 


Berkeley,  Bishop 269 

Bertrand,   282 

Bibra,  Baron  von 79 

Bimana, iii,  294 

Bingmann,  Dr 312 

Bischoff,  Wilhelm 322 

Blake,  Dr.  C.  C 77,  309 

Bleak,  J 174,  178,  181,  289 

Blumenbach,  294 

Boerlage,  Dr 312 

Borneo.Aboriginesof  168,  296,  297 

BorrebySkull 74,  78,  145 

Botocudos, 317,  323 

Boucher  de  Perthes  35,  36,  37,  40 
44,  67 

Boue,  Ami  44 

Bourgeois,  Abbe  52,  63 

Bourgeoisie, 332 

Bowdich, 296 

Bowker,  Dr 289,  290 

Brain,    117,  iiS,  119,  130,  188,  193 

302,  327,  328 

Brain  in  women,  246,  247 

Branchial  arches  and  clefts,    133 

Braun,  J 285 

Brazil, 69,  292 

Brehm, 312 

Broca,  Prof.  43,  55,  72,  80,  loi,  119 

283,  287,  301 

Bronze,  81 

Bronze-Age,  81,  288 

Bronze-weapons 281 

Bruniquel,  Cave  of 49 

Buckland, 31 

Bundehesch,     93 

Buddhism,  264 

Buffon,     109,  184,  296,  311 

Burmeister,  54,  306 

Burnouf,  261 

Busch,  M 330 

Caesar 58 


Cagliari 55 

Cahibes 317 

Caithness,  58,  69,  75 

Camper,  P 108,  296,  304 

Cannibals 287,  289,  290 

Canstatt,  Skull  46,  74 

Capercailzie,  281 

Capital, 221 — 224 

Capital,  premium  on 227 

Capitalistic  mode,  production  226 

Cams,  Dr 305 

Carver,  John 30,  112 

Casiano  de  Prado 41 

Castelnau,   74 

Catarrhini,  104,  106,  107,  150,  157 

Cats  tongues,  42 

Caves 25,  47,  87,  289 

Caves,  Belgian,  73,  87,  289 

Cave-epochs 46,  289 

Cell-nucleus,  cell-membrane,  127 

Celts, 59,  75,  287 

Celts  (Instruments)   35,  89 

Celtic  period,  89 

Centralism,   202 

Chaillu,  Du 299,  312,  314,  323 

Chaleux,  Cave  of 288,  290 

Chartres,   52 

Chimpanzee,    104,    107,    113,    119 

153.  295,  297,  311 

China 261 

Chinese, 65,  153,  168,  170,  193 

Chorda 130,  131 

Christianity 164,  263,  264,  265 

Christol 31 

Christy 46,  49,  80,  261 

ClaparSde,    177 

Clothing,  use  of 322 

Cocchi,  Prof.  46,  76 

Coccyx,  46,  76,  132 

Colle  del  Vento,  46 

Comte,  A 308 

Commodus,  265 


INDEX. 


343 


Communes,  Free 203 

Communism, 211,  331 

Community  of  Goods 203,  331 

Conscience,  innate,  256 

Conscience,  public 259 

Copernicus  and  his  system  ...     19 

Copper, 82 

Copper  a«;e  82,  S3 

Cotta,  E 177,  330 

Cotteswold  Hills 75 

Counting,  Art  of. 169 

Crime  and  criminals 238 

Cuvier,  33,  35,  113,  294, 

304,  305,  309 

Darwin,  C....20,  117,  121,  137, 
141,  142,  186,  190,  250,  294,  318 

David,  255 

Davis,     77 

Death,      269 

Decaisne,  47 

Delaunay, 53 

Delanoue, 283 

Deluge 65,  277 

Desnoyers, 51,  52,  63,  289 

Desor 291 

Destiny  of  man,  285 

Development,  process  of 182 

Developmental  history,  ...  99,  221 

Digger  Indians,   317 

Diluvial  animals,  47,  51,  289 

Diluvial  period,  27,  42,  68,  71 

Diluvium 278,  283 

Discoplacentalia,  105 

Dumont  d'Urville, 280 

Dupont,  E.    73,  146,  289,  290,  323 

Dog 281 

Dog,  Prairie 169 

Dokos,  168,  170,  314 

Dolmen, 59,  90,  282 

Domestic  animals,  87,  89 

Dowler,  Dr 55 


Eccarius,    226 

Eucador,  59 

Education 237 — 240 

Education,  religious, 263 

Egg,  Animal  and  human,  123, 

124,  127,  128 

Egotism,  211,  257,  339 

Eguisheim,    279 

Egypt 66,  67,  155,  284,  285 

Egyptian  Chronology,      283 — 285 

Eichthal,     313 

Emancipation  of  women, 249 

Embryo,  embryonal  cells,  124,  128 

Embryology,  121 

Engihoul,  Cave  of 288 

Engis',  Skull  from, 46,  288 

England 286,  287 

Eocene,    64,  162 

Epicurian  philosophy,  94 

Epicurus,  326 

Epigenesis,  theory  of. 125 

Equality 207 

Eschricht 78 

Eskimos, 288 

Essenes,  263 

Estate,  fifth  228 

Evolution,  theory  of 125 

Facial  angle,  108,  304 

Family 232 — 236 

Faudel,  Dr 279 

Federalism,  202 

Fire,  use  of 93,   170,  292 

Fire,  worship  of 93 

Flint,  37,  291 

Flint  axes,  Diluvial,    35,   39, 

142,  283,  364 
Flint  implements  and  their 

period,  38,  80,  81,  S3 

Florence 46 

Florida 55 

Forchhammer,  57 


344 


INDEX. 


Ford,  A 299 

Fossils,  278 

Fraas,  Prof.  287,  291 

Frankfort, 337 

Freethinkers,   273 

Frere,  John 41 

Frere,  Abb(5 74 

Frontal,  Cave  of ,  73.  290 

Fuegians,    318 

Fuhlrott,  D 31,  45,  76,  77 

Future  of  man 181,  184 

Gainmard,  93 

Galen,  112 

Galileo, 20 

Gaudry,  A 36 

Gemmation 304 

Genealogy  of  the  human  race  loi 

Geneva,  61,  279 

Geoffroy,  E no 

Geoffroy,  St.  Hilaire, no,  311 

Gera,  31 

Germ-cell,  121 

Gtrm-lamellae, 129 

Germinal  vesicle, 124,  127 

Germinal  spot 124,  127 

Giants, 281 

Giants'  graves 281,  282 

Gibbon 107,  296 

Giebel,  Prof.   108,  131 

Glacial  period,  55,  62,  277,  282,  291 

Gleisberg,  P 291 

Gobineau,  Count,  264 

God,  Idea  of 169 

God,  belief  in,  169,  307 

Goethe, 20,  133,  261 

Golden  age, 82 

Gorilla,  104,  106,  107,  109,  131, 

154,  296,  300,  303 

Gosse,  40 

Government 200,  203 

Grant,] 310 


Gratiolet,  Prof. 302 

Grimm,  Jacob,  loi,  324 

Ground-rent 215,  333,  334 

Haeckel,Prof.  18,  19,  106,  137, 

141,  175,  294,  304,  305,  328 

Halifa.x,  Nova  Scotia, 58 

Halitherium,  53 

Hanno,  109 

Happelius, 42 

Hebrews,  284 

Hecataeus  of  Miletus, 65 

Hegel 267 

Hein/;en,  Karl 227 

Heliogabalus,  265 

Helvetius 267 

Hermaphrodites,  305 

Herodotus 83,  280,  285 

Hindoos 160 

Hippocrates, 280 

Hochdal 76 

Homer,    66 

Hooker,  Dr 282 

Horace, 94 

Hoxne,  41 

Huangti, 65 

Hiigel,  Baron, 316 

Hunt,  James 183 

Huxley,... Prof.  15,  76,  77,  78, 
97,  102,  103,  104,  105,,  106, 
107,  109,  113,  120,  124,  128, 
126,  134,  137,  143,  156,  159. 
161,  250,  294,  296.  302,  307,  308 
Hyrtl,  Prof. 114 

Idealism,  272 

Implements,  use  of, 321 

India,  aborigines  of 315 

Inheritance 334 

Inheritance,  Limitation  of  the 

right  of,    216 

Inquisitors,   256 


INDEX. 


345 


Intermaxillaries, 133 

Invalids  of  labor 336 

Iowa,  30 

Ipswich, 46 

Iranian  traditions,  93 

Iron-age, 81,  281 

Issel,  A 46,  53 

Jackson,  J.  W 190 

Jaeger,  Dr 46,  174,  175 

Jawbone  of  La  Naulette,  147,  308 
Jawbone,  Moulin  Quignon,  43,  147 

Jawbone  of  Hy^res, 148 

Jesus  or  Joshua,  263 

Jews, 65,  92,  160,  168,  309 

Joly,  Prof.  50,  98 

Journal, 31 

Julian 265 

Jura,  61 

Kant,  326 

Keller,  Dr 280 

Kepler, 20 

Khasias,  282 

Kitchenmiddens 56,  59,  281 

Kivik,  Grave  of 281 

Kulu-Kamba, 299 

Kunis,  K.  W 263 

Kutorga,  D 78 

Labor,    corporeal  and   intel- 
lectual,     329 

Labor,  division  of, 203,  329 

Labor  and  laborers, 225 — 231 

Labor  question,  225 

Lahr 44 

Laing, 75 

Lake-dwellings, 55,  88,  280 

Lamarck,  141 

Land  question  in  England,...  333 
Lange,  F.  A.  ...  195,  221,  326,  330 
Languages,  primitive 171 


La  Naulette, 72,  146 

Laplanders,  73,  281 

Lartet,  E 26,  46, 

50,  51,  72,  80,  85,  289 

Lasalle 225,  227,  228,  231,  336 

Lastic,  M.  de 49 

Latliam,  319 

Latukas, 320,  323 

Laugel,  A 15,  35 

Legacy  duty,  334 

Lemurs,  Flying, 104 

Lenormant,  F 83 

Les  Eyzies,  Cave  of,  ....46,  50,  72 
Lesley,  J.  P.  .71,  292,  293,  300,  325 

Lewald,  Fanny, 248,  245 

Leyden, 44 

L'hombrive and  L'herm  Caves   46 

Linant  Bey,  54 

Lincecum,  Dr 170 

Linne,  104,  294 

Link 74,  309 

Lipocerci, 107 

Lisch,  Dr 78,  280 

Locke 325 

Loess  of  the  Rhine,  ...44,  279,  283 

Lubbock,  Sir  John, 38,41, 

64,  85,  88,  292 

Lucretius  Cams 94 

Lund,  Dr 31,  74 

Luther,  19 

Lyell,  Sir  Charles,  20,  30,  36, 
44,  45,  46,  52,  61,  71,  79, 
80,  95,  96,  280,  283,  2S5,  288 

Mabillon, 278 

Maestricht 44 

Magellan 170 

Malaise,  Prof.  28S 

Mammoth 51,  279,  282 

Mammoth  Cave,    44 

Man,  primitive,  90,  286,  287,  293 
Man,  antediluvian, 278 


346 


INDEX. 


Man,  tailed,  132 

Man,  Caucasian 160 

Man,  fossil, 50,  144,  279 

Manchester-men 216,  237 

Manetho, 283,  2S4,  285 

Marcus  Aureli  us,  265 

Marietta,    66,  284,  285 

Marl<ham,  C 59 

Marriage,    250 — 253 

Marriage,  limitation  of 251 

Marrow, 48 

Marsupials,  106,  126 

Mastodon,  44,  282 

Materialism,  272,  338 

Materialism  and  Idealism,  272-274 

Materialists,  273,  326 

Mayence, 280 

Mayer,  Dr 302 

Mazurier,   278 

Medullary  tube  130 

Megalony 44 

Memphis,  66 

Menes,  67 

Mexico 266 

Meyer,  Dr.  P 77,  300 

Microcephali.   138 

Milk-dentition  of  man,  134 

Milton, 95 

Mincopies,  322 

Minsk,  Skull  from 78 

Miocene,  64,  157,  162 

Mississippi  Delta,  44,  56 

Mississippi  Valley,  56 

Modera, iii 

Modesty,  169 

Money-Aristocracy 218 

Monotheism,  265 

Monsters,  163 

Morals,  254 — 259 

Morals,  innate 255 

Morlot 55,  279 

Mortillet,  G.  de 47,  51,  80 


Moses 115 

Moulin  Quignon,  Jaw  from  43,  147 

Mounds,  American, 56 

Miiller,  Dr 297 

Narnur,  73 

Natches,  fossil  from, 44 

Nationalities,  204 — 205 

Naulette,  la,  Cave  of, 308 

Navel,  162 

Neanderthal  man, 46,  72, 

75,  77,  145 
Neanderthal  skull,  75,  76,  279, 

288,  304 
Negroes,  72,  139,    153,    154, 

159,  170,  304,  308 

Neolithic  period, 85,  88 

Nepotism 233 

New  Orleans 55 

Newton, 20 

Obongos, 314 

Oemingen,  278 

Oken,  L 125,  142 

Oldfield,  321 

Olympiads,   64 

Orang-utan,  107,  154,  296,309 

Origin  of  the  human  race, 

loi,  181,  285 

Osars 55,  282 

Ovary,  128 

Over-population,  dread  of  252,  253 
Owen,  Prof  R.   113,  118,  296, 

300,  301,  304,  322 

Owen,  B 69,  75,  312 

Oysters 57,  58 

Pacific  Railway 190 

Palaeolithic  period,  85 

Pantheism,  261 

Parllienogenesis 305 

Pascal joi 


INDEX. 


347 


Paulinism,   263 

Peat-mosses  of  Denmark  and 

Iceland 56,  280 

Perigord,  Caves  of, .  ..  46,  72,  289 

Perty,  Prof.   21 

Peruvian  Skulls 79 

Petrinism 263 

Phalanstere 330 

Philippines,  Aborigines  of  the 

315,  316 

Philosophy 267 — 271 

Phoenicians, 115,  169,  170 

Physiology,  Comparative, 115 

Pictet,  Prof.  34 

Piddington, 316 

Pile-buildings,  55,  85,  280,  282,  288 

Pity,  339 

Placental  Mammals 105 

Plau,  Skull  from, 78 

Plato 267 

Platyrrhini,  105,  106,  107,  108, 

150,  294 

Pliocene, 46,  64,  157,  162 

Pohl,   330 

Polishing  of  stone  implements    89 

Polytheism 265 

Pongo,  295 

Ponzi 46 

Poor's  rates,  etc 336 

Popular  education 237 

Popular  government 217 

Portland.  Isle  of,  74 

Post  carriages  and  roads,  ....     84 

Postdiluvian,  277 

Pottery 70,  88,  89 

Pouchet,  G no,  in,  151, 

161,  169,  301,  319.  323 

Prairie-Dog, 169 

Prestwich,  J 36 

Priesthood  among  the  Aryans  261 
Primaeval  time  of  man,  282,  2S6 
Primates, 104,  105,  106,  294 


Primitive  groove,  129 

Primitive  man,  progress  of,  79,  90 

Printing,  importance  of,  388 

Procopius, 48 

Productive  Associations, 227 

Prognothism. 147 

Prosimiae,  104,  105 

Pruner-Bey,  77,  148,  286 

Purchas, 295 

Pyramids 66 

Quadruniana, 294 

Quatrefages,  Prof.  52,  95,  no,  in 
Quenstedt,  46 

Races  of  man 193,  194,  309 

Radenhausen,  181,  241,   270, 

331.  334 

Railways 84 

Rainey,  Dr 332 

Reichenbach,  Dr 140 

Reindeer,  8,  289 

Reindeer  period 51,  72,  87,  88 

Reindeer  man 87,  88,  290 

Religion 260 — 266 

Renan,  E 261,  284 

Renevier,  Prof  85 

Revolution,  Social,  332 

Richthofen,  266 

Rigollot,  36 

Robert,  Eugene, 47 

Rochas,  M.  von    313 

Rolle,  F 162,  283 

Rolleston,  Prof.  302 

Rosicre,  M 54 

Ross,  John 318 

Rover,  Clemence 324 

Sacrifices,  Human,  281 

Sahara 62 

Saimiri, 108 

Salles,  Comte  de  95 


348 


INDEX. 


Sanscrit,    261 

Savage,  Dr 296,  298 

Savona 46,  53 

Schaaffhausen,  Prof.    15,    18, 

25,  45.  50,  76,  77.  78,  135. 
137.  154,  155,  181,  267, 
287,   300,   305,   308,   319,  322 

Scherzer,  56,  108 

Scheuchzer,  Prof.  loS,  278 

Scheurer-Kestner,  Prof. 279 

Schiller,  30,  338 

Schleicher,  Prof.  A 153,  324 

Schlotheim,  Baron  von 31,  74 

Schmerling,  Dr 31,  74,  288 

Schmitz,  Otto 300,  318 

Schonen-island,  281 

Schopenhauer,  270 

Schultze-Delitzsch 230,  231 

Schussenquelle,  88,  291 

Schwaan,  Grave  at 78 

Schweichel.  R 287 

Scrithifinns,  48 

Self-help 229 

Senses,  deceptibility  of,  326 

Shakers 33° 

Shell-mounds,  58,  69 

Shetland  islands,  75 

Silver-age, 82 

Skulls,  ancient,    73 

Slavery,  social 214 

Smart,].  W 74 

Society 206 — 220 

Soleure, 61 

Somme  river,  35,  283 

Somme  valley,  39,  283 

Souls  of  animals,  166 

Sovereignty  of  the  people,  ...  336 

Sparsiplacentalia 105 

Speech,  articulate, 171 

Speech,  faculty  of, 302 

Speech,  origm  of 172,  i73 

Species,  idea  of  3o<^ 


Spiegel,  Prof.  66,  93 

Spring,  Dr 74,  288 

Squier,  M 56 

Stability, 90 

State,  201,  203 

State-aid  229,  336 

State-factories,  228 

Steenstrup,  Prof.  57,  280 

St.  Hilaire,  Barth.  ...  294,  311,  320 

Stockholm,    81,  84 

Stone  age, 282,  288,  289 

Stonehenge, 282 

Stone-implements, 86,  287 

Stone-industry 69 

Stone-tables,  57,  282 

Strabo,    66 

Struggle  for  advantageous 

position,  195 

Struggle  for  existence  in  man 

and  animals,  194,  213 

Struggle  for  existence,  social 

1 85,  187 

Suffrage,  female 248 

Suhle,  Baron,  267,  268 

Suicide, 170 

Suicide  in  Children,  234 

Sweden,   47 

Switzerland,  151,  202,   280, 

282,  288,  291 

Tacitus 83 

Tail 132 

Tail-born  in  man, 132 

Tasmanians 159,  313 

Termites,  169 

Tertiary  period,  63,  64,  68, 

105,  157,  282 

Turtullian,  266 

Teufelskammer, 45 

Thames,  River,   61 

Thebes 66,  285 

Thenay, 53 


INDEX. 


349 


Thiantihoei 331 

Thomassen 83 

Thunder-bolts, 42 

Tierra  del  Fuego,  69,  31S 

Tiniere,  cone  of  the 279 

Titicaca-race 79 

Titicaca-skull,  79 

Toltecs 56 

Trojan  war 64 

Troyon 85,  280 

Tnlpius 295 

TiimuH 281 

Tuttle 324 

Tyson,  Dr 295 

Unity  of  the  human  race 152 

Universities,  decay  of,  337 

Urus 48,  58 

Vertebrae,  primitive  131,  161,301 

Vesahus, 112 

Vibraye,  Marquis  de,...46,  72,  326 

Villeneuve 55 

Virchow,  Prof.  82,  280 

Vitellus, 37,  41,  46,  49 

Vogt,  Carl,  ....52,  85,  87,  283, 
137,  155,  163,  280, 
286,   288,   293,   306,   326 

Wackernagel,  336 

Wages-system 228 


Wagner,  M 280,  317 

Wagner,  R 77,  284,  303,  317 

Wallace,  A.  R.    165,  190,  191,  310 

Wallace,  E 64 

Watervleit,  330 

Weissbach,  Dr 107 

Welker,  Prof.  163,  303 

Westphalia,  Caves  of 50,  300 

Westropp 86,  88,  171 

Whateley,  Archbishop, 292 

Wickedness 339 

William  the  Conqueror,  83 

Wilson,  Prof.  D 75,  286 

Wolf,  C.  F 125 

Woman 241 — 249 

Work-givers  and  work-takers  226 

Worsaae,  Prof.  57 

Writing,  Art  of 68 

Writing,  origin  of,  176 

Wurmb,  Baron  von  296 

Xerxes 83 

Yao,  65 

Yelk,   122 

Yvan,  Dr.    310 


Zillah,  Dr 316 

Zonoplacentalia 105 

Zoroaster, 264 


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